Celtic’s draw against Aberdeen yesterday was a case of another two dropped points and allowing Rangers the upper hand in the race for the Scottish Premiership.
Blowing a ten-point lead that they had in the early stages of the season, Brendan Rodgers‘ side came under intense scrutiny yesterday afternoon and it was one player in particular who was under the microscope.
Maik Nawrocki stepped in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers at Pittodrie and was deemed at fault for allowing Dons striker Bojan Miovski to fire the opener.
BBC pundits Pat Bonner and Willie Miller said the 22-year-old looked scared at the pace of Miovski and really struggled to contain the Macedonian international.
Miller said [BBC Sportsound], “They were so open at the back. They were struggling. Nawrocki was frightened of Miovski.
“He didn’t want to compete. He didn’t want to go one-on-one striker because he knew that the Aberdeen striker would get the better of him.”
And that view was backed up by former Celtic hero, Pat Bonner, who went on to say, “Nawrocki really struggled. Willie summed it up. He was afraid of the pace of Miovski.”
Nawrocki’s future at Celtic has come under scrutiny this season and was even tipped to be loaned out in the January transfer window.
However, now that Carter-Vickers is out for the next few weeks, the former Poland u21 international has a chance to stake a claim in the Hoops’ first team.
However, after struggling against The Dons, Nawrocki may well have done his chances more harm than good and his performance yesterday could force Brendan Rodgers into a rethink ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Hibs.
With Celtic not being able to afford to drop any more points, each fixture now is critical in the race for the title and each fixture will need every player to be at the top of their game if Rodgers wants to be crowned champion at the end of the season.
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