There are many things that Brendan Rodgers can take away from Celtic’s win against Ross County yesterday.
The manager will be pleased that his team stayed patient as The Staggies set up to frustrate Celtic after going down to ten men early on in the game.
He will also be delighted at Hyeongyu Oh’s endeavour despite getting a goal chopped off. And as for Luis Palma’s strike, the Celtic manager will be pleased that the Honduran finds the back of the net once more for Celtic.
But sticking with the 23-year-old for a minute. It wasn’t his goal that had Chris Sutton impressed. No, it as Palma’s assist for James Forrest’s historic strike that had the former Celtic hero feeling impressed.
Sutton said [Sky Sports], “He needs to be his own player and for him coming in to try and fill Jota’s boots I don’t think he can think like that.
“He has to be his own his own man and make an impact score goals and create opportunities. And while his goal was brilliant, I think if Celtic lacked anything in the game, it was that precision in the final third.
“He does brilliantly for the third goal because there’s a little look up and his dink to James Forrest, he means it, it’s not just crossing it into an area and as I said, it’s what Celtic lack, just that little bit of quality there.”
Palma is certainly turning into a very handy player for Brendan Rodgers. Yesterday’s goal against Ross County was his fourth in ten games and the assist was his second of the season. [Transfermarkt]
But what an assist it was. Palma’s vision to create the goal was simply brilliant and the £3.5m signing from Aris is certainly showing his worth to the side this season.
Impressing not only domestically, Palma has produced the goods in the Champions League and on the international stage showing the Celtic fans why Brendan Rodgers laid out a hefty transfer fee to land his man.
And he is just going to keep getting better and better. Palma has huge career ambitions and if he continues to progress at the rate he has been going at there is no reason to suggest that he can’t go to the very top in the game.
In other news, ‘At this moment’: Chris Sutton thinks Brendan Rodgers simply doesn’t trust 24-year-old Celtic player