Celtic fans join pundits in questioning Ange Postecoglou’s decision to risk star man Kyogo Furuhashi in meaningless Europa League tie

Celtic supporters have voiced their frustration over manager Ange Postecoglou’s decision to risk star man Kyogo Furuhashi in their dead-rubber Europa League tie against Real Betis.

The Japanese striker was named among the substitutes last night, along with fellow first-team stars Callum McGregor, Joe Hart and David Turnbull as Postecoglou rotated his squad amid a packed fixture schedule.

However, the Australian head coach was forced to call upon Kyogo much earlier than he would have liked after a hamstring injury forced Albian Ajeti off the pitch in the first half.

The substitution backfired badly as the 26-year-old was unable to continue after picking up a similar injury in the second half of the Hoops 3-2 win over the La Liga outfit.

With a League Cup Final on the horizon next weekend, Postecoglou now faces a selection dilemma with £2.5million summer arrival Giorgos Giakoumakis still struggling to recover from a knee injury.

Hoops legend Chris Sutton, who was on co-commentary duty last night, slammed Postecoglou’s decision to bring on Furuhashi in a meaningless game on social media.

He wrote on Twitter: “Gutsy win for Celtic. Brilliant effort and desire. Kyogo wasn’t worth the risk though.

“Huge month ahead. The squad is light. The supporters need to get Ange Postecoglou and the team through the next few weeks until January!”

Sutton’s view was shared by fellow pundit and former Hibernian striker Tam McManus, who was in disbelief over the substitution.

He said: “Why was Kyogo on the park? Mental. Could have played Hoopy the Huddle hound up top and thee fans wouldn’t have cared. That could be a crippler for Celtic if it’s a bad one”.

Left without a recognised out-and-out striker, the Celtic boss may have to turn to wide players James Forrest, Mikey Johnston or Liel Abada to lead the line against Motherwell on Sunday.

It is not the first time this season Furuhashi has suffered an injury setback and it remains unclear how long he could be sidelined for, but Postecoglou confirmed the early diagnosis was “not good.”

He said: “We’ve had a few injuries but the amount of games we’re playing is just ridiculous to be fair. We don’t have the squad to cope with it at the moment.”

The increasing injury list is a major cause for concern as the Hoops approach a critical point in their season and fans have been questioning why Kyogo was introduced in the first place when less influential players could have been handed game time.

Fitbadug: “Sorry Ange but Kogo should have been sitting in the stand. You said he needed a rest and when the chance came you didn’t give him it.”

Cheezydee: “Honestly why would you make that decision? Why not just play ANYONE else? Stupid, stupid decision. I love Ange, he’s hardly set a foot wrong so far but what was he thinking? I get that Kyogo could’ve got injured at any point in a meaningful game but he needed rested anyway.”

Larry7: “It was the daftest decision Ange has made. This isn’t hindsight: I said at the time I’d rather have seen a winger come on and push Abada through the middle. Kyogo was pretty ineffective, in any case. If we have to play Rangers on January 2nd without Kyogo and Jota then we’ve really let them off the hook.”

Brimcbhoy: “I don’t believe it is bad luck. There have been far too many injuries for it to be bad luck, mostly hamstrings. Something is not right that our players are falling to the same injury. What are the sports science guys doing about it?”

Kevza: “Disappointing outcome, saw it happening before it happened. I’m hoping Ange will learn from this.”

Some supporters preferred to remain more optimistic about the current situation:

Fletch: “It’s not like Ange hasn’t been through a situation like this before in his managerial career. Yes, injuries are a big problem at present but for every problem there is a solution. Don’t doubt the boss.”

Smelltheg-love: “There’s much more to us than one man. Sure the wee man is a cracker but there has been another 10 players supporting him.”

Bellshill bhoy: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we all could see into the future we’d all change aspects of our lives... it unfortunately happened, other players will need to step up now. Other opportunities for someone else. We move on.”

Docco: “Nonsense to blame Ange for this. It could have happened today in training or in the first minute of Sunday’s game. Heavy schedules with short recovery time between games coupled with our high-pressing, high intensity style of play are to blame here. You could blame Ange for way he has us playing but not for playing to win... these injuries will continue to happen until the players get used to it.”