Former Celtic striker gives advice to out of form Kasper Hogh

Former Celtic striker Gary Hooper is backing Kasper Hogh to find his feet after a less than ideal start to life in Glasgow. There have been big expectations surrounding the Danish frontman, who arrived on an £11million deal that could yet become a club-record fee if add-ons are met.

And early on, it looked as though he might meet them, scoring a hat-trick in his second game and going on to offer some important hold-up play. He also wasted no time endearing himself to supporters, and there was excitement aplenty surrounding Hogh.

But over recent weeks, the striker has really struggled, developing a habit of regularly missing chances and also going chasing, leaving himself out of position and rarely useful as a hold-up player, which is what Celtic want him to be.

But it is still early, and Celtic know they are going to have to show some patience, with strikers often going through confidence issues and mixed form.

That's something former Hoops frontman Hooper has highlighted in an interview with SunSport.

“You have to take it game by game," said the former frontman. "Kasper has come in and he doesn’t know the league or the players and it takes time to get used to it.

“Scoring a hat-trick early on, people then expect you to score goal after goal. It’s not always that easy. His next goal is the most important one. I’m sure once he gets the next one he can go on a run.

“Kasper is a goalscorer. He showed that with his hat-trick against Kilmarnock. He’s proved it at a high level, with plenty of goals in Europe. I’m sure it will come for him.

“The key thing is not letting anything affect you. Just play your game, don’t change. “The chances will come at Celtic, because they create so much. It doesn’t matter if you miss 10 of them — as long as you score when it matters. You just have to trust yourself.

“Obviously, everyone is on him because it’s been a few games since he scored, but I’m sure Kasper trusts himself and it will be fine.”

Hogh has shied away in recent weeks, in truth, regularly passing off the ball in moments where you want to see him take the ball, turn and shoot. That points to a lack of confidence, and O'Neill needs to find a way to fix that.