Cast your mind back to Celtic’s final league game of last season; Celtic 5 Aberdeen 0.
After a few below-par performances, the Bhoys returned to their magnificent best as they swept the Dons aside on Trophy Day in Paradise.
The scorer of Celtic’s final two league goals of the campaign that day was South Korean forward Oh Hyeon-gyu, a January recruit brought in to replace the departing Giorgos Giakoumakis. From the tail-end of January to the conclusion of the season, Oh contributed 6 goals in 16 league appearances and had a goals-per-90 ratio that even Kyogo Furuhashi would be proud of; the future looked bright for Oh.
However, five months down the line the outlook is not so rosy. Oh has been limited to seven appearances so far this term, all off the bench and all giving less than 30 minutes of game time; his total minutes so far add up to less than two full 90-minute appearances. Perhaps it therefore comes as no surprise that the goals have dried up. The South Korean international has yet to break his duck for the season and, as displayed recently at Tynecastle, has resorted to snatching at chances in his bid to get his name on the scoresheet.
Early Promise
Replacing Giorgos Giakoumakis was never going to be an easy ask for Oh. Despite not scoring in his last 10 league games for Celtic, the Greek forward had earned a cult status amongst the Celtic support for his bustling approach and one-touch finishing ability.
Arriving from the K-League, Oh also faced the prospect of having to adapt quickly to the physical demands of the Scottish game. A bedding-in period as third striker behind Kyogo and Giakoumakis would have been an ideal way to gradually introduce Oh to Scottish football. However, by the time of Oh’s arrival, it was clear the Greek forward had no future at the club and already had one foot out of the door, giving Oh little time to settle before being trusted as Celtic’s second-choice centre-forward.
A 15 minute cameo at Tannadice against Dundee United on 29th January gave us our first glimpse of Oh in action. Athletic and energetic, powerful and with good off-the-ball movement, his debut outing offered early signs of promise in his talents.
Oh’s first goal in the Hoops came on his fourth appearance, at home to St Mirren in the Scottish Cup where he showed poacher’s instincts to pounce on a loose ball six yards out to give Celtic a 3-0 lead 10 minutes from time. His first league goal followed away from home against the same opposition, slotting home a penalty, before powering home a header against Hibs for his first league goal at Celtic Park.
Three different types of goal, all celebrated with the borderline arrogance of a confident centre-forward who trusts in his abilities. Contrast that to the Oh we currently see who is snatching at chances and desperate to score.
How to Displace an Immovable Object like Kyogo
No matter how good a deputy Oh promised to be last season, opportunities to start were few and far between thanks to the immovable object in front of him; goal-scoring machine Kyogo Furuhashi.
Described by many observers as Celtic’s best centre-forward since Henrik Larsson, Kyogo has proven himself to be a sensational signing since arriving from Vissel Kobe in July 2021. The Japanese forward has scored at a rate of 0.87 goals per 90 in the league since the start of the 2021/22 season.
It is Kyogo’s movement and speed of thought, along with his ability to score in the big games, which has helped push him further into the elite category of centre-forward.
Restricted Opportunities and Hope
When reviewing Oh’s impact on the team so far, the reasons behind his restricted starts and minutes on the pitch must make up a large part of the discourse. The widely accepted benchmark of minutes played before meaningful data analysis can be performed on a player is 900 minutes. Oh is yet to reach that magic number on league duty for Celtic.
Since his debut late in January, Oh’s cumulative league minutes amount to less than 9 full games – 739 minutes across 23 largely substitute appearances. While that statistic may cause some alarm bells to ring, it also raises debate over the basis of any criticism of the player; we’ve simply not seen enough of him on the park to properly judge his talents.
Acknowledging that it is virtually impossible to displace Kyogo from the team, opportunities to start and stake his claim to become Celtic’s main centre-forward will remain at a premium for Oh.
Yet, despite his limited minutes, Oh can boast a goals-per-90-minutes ratio of 0.74. Given that this comes mainly from 10-20-minute substitute appearances, where he has to hit the ground running, this is still fairly impressive.
All is not lost for Oh. He is still the same athletic, physically-strong striker with an eye for goal that we signed in January. He is lacking confidence, for the first time in his short career he is not a first-pick at club level; it’s natural his form may dip.
One option that could work in his favour would be to partner him with Kyogo, rather than replace him, in some games.
Kyogo has the game intelligence to play alongside Oh, running the channels with either Palma, Maeda, or one of our plethora of wingers providing real width on the other flank, thus allowing Oh to patrol the penalty area and play to his strengths.
It’s an option we could turn to should an opportunity arise, the difficulty is waiting for that opportunity to come along while not being too harsh on Oh in the interim.
Kevin McCluskie
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