Oh Hyeon-gyu had a three word message after Celtic’s 2-1 victory over St Mirren.
The young striker came off the bench in the 74th minute and scored the decisive goal nine minutes later. Believe in yourself was the Instagram message.
Now into his 11th month as a Celtic player Oh has already been through a lot after taking on the heavy burden of replacing Giorgos Giakoumakis.
That would have been a big task for any striker, especially a 21-year-old switching continent in mid-season.
Instantly Oh’s physical presence was noted, more Giakoumakis than Kyogo Furuhashi, with seven goals last season coming mainly as a substitute.
A calf injury picked up in pre-season matches left Celtic even more dependent on Kyogo but the former Vissel Kobe striker has delivered in the SPFL and Champions League.
There seems to be a fair amount of chat around about signing another striker to compete with Kyogo in January but it won’t be easy to find an established striker prepared to be second choice in a system that has only one place.
Oh seems strong enough mentally for the understudy role with last season’s scoring record suggesting that he knows his way around in the SPFL, it took Giakoumakis until the second half of the 21/22 season to catch fire.
With 11 matches to be played between November 25 and January 2 having a goal-scoring striker that believes in himself will be vital if Celtic are to build on their impressive start to the season.
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Lad needs minutes on the pitch, simple as that. Would like to see him start sometimes, maybe alongside Kyogo or maybe with him held in reserve as the ultimate impact substitute for the last half-hour. It’s clear Oh has something to offer but he has had little chance to show it this season with an early injury and extremely limited game time holding him back. Hopefully Wednesday was a turning point – he took the goal well, it wasn’t just a goalmouth scramble.
Is it beyond Rodgers managerial genius to see we play better with Oh and Kyogo on the pitch together?
If we’re short of goals, then play 4-4-2.
I ain’t no football genius, but tighten up the defence and two up top!