Kasper Høgh's 13-game goalless run is now the main talking point around Celtic's £11m summer signing. He was taken off at half-time against Dundee Utd after setting up the opening goal, and Martin O'Neill still felt he had done enough to help the side.
O'Neill's defence of the striker
"He played a part. I thought he worked exceptionally hard for us again. One or two things that he tried maybe didn’t come off. But, overall, he’s made the goal," O'Neill told dailymail.com. "That will give him a boost of confidence. We put on two wide players and I’m sure he’s probably frustrated that he’s sitting out and not playing a part in the second half."
That support matters because the drought is stretching while the team around him has been uneven. Høgh still has 3 Premiership goals this season and has made 8 league appearances, so this is not a case of a striker missing entirely. It is a poor run for a forward who was expected to add more end product quickly.
The run Celtic are trying to ride out
The concern is less about one afternoon than the pattern that has built around it. Høgh has gone 13 games without scoring for Celtic, and his recent average rating of 6.51 across his last five appearances reflects a spell where he has been involved without changing games enough.
O'Neill's decision to switch to two wide players after the break also left Høgh watching the second half from the bench. He had already set up the opener, which is why the manager's public defence lands as part praise, part warning about how little margin there is now in his performances.
Celtic's next league test comes at Falkirk this weekend, and Høgh goes into it still looking for his next goal.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
