Scott Brown takes brutal swipe at Sebastian Tounekti with Callum Osman verdict
Former Celtic midfielder Scott Brown has issued a brutal verdict on Sebastian Tounekti, who was left out of Sunday's 7-1 win over Hearts.
The Bhoys blew Hearts away at Parkhead with a brace from each of Callum Osmand and Benjamin Nygren, while Kieran Tierney and Camilo Durán were both on the scoresheet, while there was also an own goal.
Martin O'Neill decided to drop pricey summer signing Kasper Hogh, who struggled against Benfica during the week, leading to him being brought off at half-time.
The change to the starting XI saw Durán play through the middle, while Callum Osmand, who is typically a striker, played on the left.
That decision proved a wise one from O'Neill, with Osmand and Durán striking up an impressive impression, and the likes we haven't seen from Durán and Hogh. Durán set up Osmand, who scored with a brilliant finish for the second goal, and for the third, Durán had a shot saved and then chipped the ball across for Osmand to score.
Osmand was brought off at half-time, likely due to the fact he recently returned from injury, but it was an impressive performance on the left, and the Hoops haven't always had good results there.
O'Neill now has options with the likes of Jota and Yang Hyun-jun coming back from injury, but Tounekti has been heavily relied upon, and he has frustrated repeatedly with inconsistent performances and poor quality in the final third.
Speaking after the game, former Hoops midfielder Brown said: "Fantastic performance it really was. I thought the best thing was the pace, the way they got after them. Hassan has some issues defensively, which we can all see, but attacking, he is a delight to watch.
"Durán through the middle is so good. Osmand out on the left has done more in 45 minutes than Tounekti has done in his time at the club."
That is a little over the top, because Tounekti has been sharp at times, but it is true that we haven't seen Duran and him strike up the sort of connection we saw between the Colombian and Osmand on Sunday afternoon.
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