Michael Stewart has slammed Carl Starfelt following the goal that Celtic conceded in the Premier Sports Cup final, labelling his marking ‘very, very poor’ – in comments reported by BBC Sport.
The Hoops have their first trophy under Ange Postecoglou. Two goals from Kyogo Furuhashi decided the contest, with Chris Sutton comparing the summer signing with Henrik Larsson following the two finishes.
However, it was Hibernian who struck the first blow of the final. Paul Hanlon broke the deadlock six minutes into the second-half as Joe Hart was seemingly unable to keep his header from crossing the line.
Hanlon managed to get a pretty clear run at the ball as he managed to lose his marker, Starfelt. And following the goal, Stewart insisted that it was not good enough from the Sweden international.
“The desire from Hanlon to go and win the ball – wonderful! It is very, very poor marking from Starfelt and he was poor before the corner was given too,” he told BBC Sport.
Starfelt made amends for error with assured cup final display for Celtic
In fairness to Starfelt, he has largely bounced back from a tough start to life at Celtic. It did appear that the 26-year-old was coming in for a fair bit of criticism in the weeks following his arrival.
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However, his partnership with Cameron Carter-Vickers appears to have grown as the games have passed. Carter-Vickers has arguably been the standout performer in that partnership. But Starfelt has certainly played his part.
And in truth, the large majority of his performance at Hampden Park was still good.
Ultimately, losing Hanlon probably will not matter too much to Celtic right now while they celebrate the trophy. But it is an error that the Hoops will hope Starfelt does not make again in the games that lie ahead.