“He’s like all strikers. They go a couple of games without scoring and the world collapses in on them.”
The words of the Celtic manager describing a barren run for striker Kyogo Furuhashi. This was not Brendan Rodgers addressing the current goal drought being suffered by Celtic’s star forward, though, but Ange Postecoglou speaking way back in October of last year.
There appears to be a narrative that Kyogo’s dip in productivity in front of goal this season has at the very least been influenced by the tactics of Rodgers, if not entirely caused by them. But the striker suffered similar stretches of poor form and apparent crises of confidence even under Postecoglou.
Rodgers has himself looked to deflect any blame for Kyogo’s struggles, and in fact, has argued that he is attempting to persuade his striker to stop allowing his frustration at his lack of involvement (he touched the ball just four times in the first half against Hearts, despite Celtic having almost 75 percent of the ball) to get the better of him.
When he does that, he starts to wander into deeper areas, and therefore nullifies his greatest strength, which is his penetrating movement in behind defences. But finding a formula to make the most of that strength against deep-lying opposition backlines, does indeed fall on Rodgers.
The ‘couple of games’ that Postecoglou referenced last year though was in fact a run of just one goal in eight matches. Furuhashi was criticised too at times under the Australian’s guidance as he struggled to convert chances in the Champions League, something he did remedy this season, scoring twice in his six outings at the top level.
Admittedly, his lack of goals in the Premiership – he has just six so far in 18 matches - is a concern. On this day last year, he hit his 11th goal of the league campaign in just 15 games in a win over Livingston at Celtic Park.
All eyes will now be on the same fixture this coming Saturday to see if Kyogo can bring his current goal drought to an end. He has scored just once in his last 12 outings in a Celtic jersey in all competitions, and has none in the seven matches he has played since his goal in the 6-0 drubbing of Aberdeen.
What was also notable about that game though was that he took an almighty clobbering on the head in a thumping challenge from Dons defender Slobodan Rubezic, sustaining a significant head knock that kept him out of Japan’s November fixtures.
In truth, he hasn’t quite looked the same player since. Whether he is suffering from a lack of confidence or is perhaps adopting a little too much wariness for his welfare, there does appear to be a spark missing from his play at present.
There is an argument of course that he isn’t firing on all cylinders because of the dearth of supply coming his way, though that point is rather undermined by his glaring, fresh-air miss from a glorious Luis Palma pass in the defeat to Hearts last weekend.
Over the course of the season though, it could certainly be argued that Kyogo has gone from feasting on crosses to a famine when it comes to his supply from wide areas. His goal against Aberdeen was a throwback to the formula that worked so well for him in previous seasons, with a teammate getting to the byline and cutting back for him to finish with one touch.
That was something of an outlier though when it comes to the sort of service he is currently receiving. While Palma has impressed with his own goalscoring impact, he doesn’t possess the same creativity as his predecessor on the left of the Celtic attack, Jota. He also prefers to cut in on his stronger right foot to get shots away, rather than getting to the byline to supply for others.
On the other side, Kyogo will welcome the return of Daizen Maeda, and the impending return of Liel Abada. The introduction of Yang Hyun-jun, the persistence with Mikey Johnston and the reliance on an aging James Forrest has so far failed to achieve much but collectively stoke the fury and raise the blood pressure of the Celtic support.
Behind him too, Kyogo has suffered because of the injury problems that have plagued Reo Hatate’s season.
There has been some decent link up play with Celtic’s player of the season so far, Matt O’Riley, most notably for the fabulous goal they constructed between them against Atletico Madrid at Celtic Park. But there is no doubt that the understanding Kyogo enjoyed with his compatriot is proving a big miss for Celtic and for the forward.
So, there is no one reason why Kyogo is currently failing to hit the heights he has been known to at regular junctures throughout his Celtic career, but rather, something of an imperfect storm. But what is largely being ignored is that such sporadic dips in form have plagued his time in Scotland in the past.
The returning players in the supporting areas of the Celtic attack should result in an upturn in his own and in his team’s fortunes. And given his response to adversity and patchy form in the past, all signs point to Kyogo coming good once more.
