Chris Sutton has told the Daily Record that Ange Postecoglou starting Kyogo Furuhashi in the Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers may be an ‘unnecessary risk’ by the Celtic boss.
Furuhashi played his first minutes since December as the Hoops thrashed St Johnstone 7-0 in the Premiership last week. Postecoglou afforded his £4.5m summer signing from Vissel Kobe a late cameo at Parkhead to mark his long-awaited return following a hamstring tear.
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The Japan star suffered the blow back on Boxing Day at St Johnstone during his 26th game of the season. He had proven himself instrumental to the Hoops’ efforts to that stage, as well, with 16 goals and five assists in all competitions. Still no Celtic star has scored more.
Postecoglou stated before Celtic hosted St Johnstone that he had no fears over Furuhashi’s fitness. He had instead opted to leave the 27-year-old out of his matchday plans the week previous when Celtic came from behind to beat Rangers 2-1 at Ibrox in the Old Firm derby.
Sutton warns Postecoglou of ‘unnecessary risk’ of starting Celtic star Furuhashi
It is now possible that Postecoglou elects to start Furuhashi when Celtic and Rangers meet in the Scottish Cup semi-final. But Sutton feels his involvement from the off at Hampden Park on Sunday may not be needed given the form of January addition Daizen Maeda.
“It depends on what Postecoglou has seen from Kyogo in training,” Sutton said. “He might be flying and can go straight back in, but it looks an unnecessary risk.
“Daizen Maeda has been in good form and his pace and constant pressing can cause problems for the Rangers defence.
“Kyogo looked fairly sharp when he came on against St Johnstone but it’s tough to hit the ground running in such a huge game after nearly four months out.”
Maeda has scored seven goals in 16 games for Celtic since joining on loan from Yokohama F Marinos in January with a £1.5m option to buy. He also has three goals and an assist over his last four Premiership games. But Maeda did not influence the scoring against Rangers.
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