“He’s gone. His confidence is gone,” Mulgrew’s opinion on Kasper Hogh

Charlie Mulgrew has claimed that Kasper Hogh’s confidence has been completely shot by his poor run of form at Celtic since his hat-trick at Rugby Park back in August…

Kasper Hogh is Celtic’s record signing at £11.5m so it’s absolutely crucial that Martin O’Neill and his coaching staff find a way to fit the Denmark international striker into the team that sees him showing his best attributes.

For now though nothing is going right for Hogh on the park and in Mulgrew’s view as a former player who has experience himself of losing confidence, the former Bodo Glimt striker should be taken out of the firing line for a month or so.

Charlie Mulgrew’s worrying assessment on Kasper Hogh

Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Mulgrew gave his assessment of Hogh’s time at Celtic so far which aside from that hat-trick against Kilmarnock has produced nothing else. Looking back at Kasper Hogh’s performance for Celtic in the 2-1 win at Easter Road on Sunday against Hibs, Mulgrew reckoned that the striker was lucky to stay on beyond 35 minutes after missing two good chances.

“I would have hooked him off at 35 minutes. He missed two sitters, you could tell his confidence is gone and he ran into the referee to sum it up. He came short for a ball and nearly set Hibs on the counter attack,” Charlie Mulgrew noted.

“I’ve been there as a player so I can completely sympathise with him”

He continued: “He’s gone. His confidence is gone. I’ve been there as a player so I can completely sympathise with him.

Charlie of course isn’t making these calls and after his own short and underwhelming time in management at Kelty Hearts earlier this year, that’s likely to remain the case.

Martin O’Neill is the man picking the team at Celtic

Martin O’Neill is the man picking the team at Celtic and he reckons that Kasper Hogh will come good and will end up scoring 20 goals this season. So far he’s got three while Camilo Duran reached double figures when scoring the winner for Celtic at Easter Road.

The Colombian has frequently had to play wide on right of the Celtic attack to accommodate Hogh in the team, and he’s done so without complaining. Duran is on course to score 30 plus goals this season and at this stage that seems more likely than Kasper Hogh getting 20.

Kasper Hogh desperately needs that fourth goal for Celtic

That said the fourth goal from Kasper may well turn out to be his most important, with Martin O’Neill also noting that the Dane just needs the next goal to kickstart his time at Celtic and to raise his confidence levels.

It will be interesting to see who leads the line on Wednesday night against an in form Dundee United at Celtic Park. If it’s Kasper Hogh he needs to be given as much backing as possible from the Celtic support, which will of course benefit from the return of the Green Brigade after they stayed away from the 2-1 defeat to Celta Vigo in the Europa League last Thursday night.