KYOGO FURUHASHI fired in three goals in 30 first-half minutes in the 9-0 romp over Dundee United at Tannadice on August 28.
Amazingly, the Japanese striker has claimed just ONE goal in eight games since his pulverising performance on Tayside.
Kyogo netted in the 2-1 home victory over Motherwell a fortnight ago, but, apart from that close-range effort after keeper Liam Kelly had blocked a header from Matt O’Riley, last season’s top scorer with 20 strikes has been firing blanks.
The fans’ favourite hopes to rectify the baffling situation against Hibs at Parkhead this afternoon.
OFF TARGET…Kyogo Furuhashi is unhappy after a miss against RB Leipzig.
Ange Postecoglou acknowledges the situation while admitting playing in Europe does take its toil and you only have to look to last month when the Hoops were unfortunate just to gain a point in the 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw and lost 2-0 to St Mirren in Paisley four days later.
However, the Hoops gaffer insists charismatic frontman Kyogo does NOT need rested, despite a below-par display in the 2-0 midweek loss to RB Leipzig where he missed a marvellous opportunity smack in front of goal in the first-half when he headed a clever ball from Sead Haksabanovic waywardly over the bar.
Postecoglou said: “I don’t think people can be too harsh on him. Last week, he set up Jota for a fantastic goal that he created in Germany).
“Champions League goals are hard to come by, but I don’t think he has been any less threatening. He is still getting into good positions and he has been unlucky on a couple of occasions. I still think he really causes teams problems.
TAKE-OFF…Kyogo Furuhashi is lofted high by Liel Abada after one of his three first-half goals against Dundee United. The Israeli winger emulated the feat after the interval.
“Domestically, we have had to juggle him a little bit. People forget he was in great form and then hurt his shoulder which kept him out for a couple of weeks, so he was a little bit disrupted.
“He is still a player who does very well for us.”
The champions will go into the Battle of the Greens without crocks Callum McGregor, Filipe Jota, Carl Starfelt, Stephen Welsh and David Turnbull.
Asked if he felt the players were vulnerable after European games, Postecoglou, speaking to the Glasgow Times, answered: “I don’t think so. But there is a challenge there because they are high quality games and they do take it out of players emotionally and physically.
“We are trying to balance that by making sure that we rotate and making sure players have a clear mindset. We also don’t ever change our approach and I think that makes it easier in terms of preparing for Champions League games and then league games.
HALLELUJAH…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates with the Celtic fans after the 9-0 win at Tannadice in August.
“We take a consistent approach and, hopefully, that helps the players going from one competition to the other.
“But all clubs seem to have had some significant injuries because there is no real time to recover between games. I guess that is a real challenge to all the clubs who are involved because in normal seasons you get a little bit of time to recover between games.
“The Champions League does take out a bit more out of you than league games. Our physical output and the numbers we churn out in the tournament are consistently high. If you don’t get that time to recover then you run the risk of injuries.
“Last year seemed to be a lot of muscle injuries, this year seems to be collision injuries. I have been involved long enough to know that these are just part of football.
“But, like everyone else, we just have to deal with it.”
Liel Abada has recovered from the knee injury that saw him hobble off in the first-half against RB Leipzig and will play in the encounter where a win will see the Hoops go five points clear at the top of the Premiership.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v Hibs this afternoon – only in your champion CQN.
