O’Neill can drop Tounekti by unleashing Celtic’s new Oliver Burke

Celtic had a break from action in the Scottish Premiership last weekend when they faced St Mirren in the semi-finals of the SFA Cup at Hampden Park.

The Hoops will now play Championship side Dunfermline in the final of the competition, 12 months on from losing to Aberdeen in last year’s final under Brendan Rodgers.

Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench to score two of Celtic’s six goals against the Saints, taking his tally to six goals in all competitions this season.

The Nigerian centre-forward has hit form at the perfect time for the Scottish giants, with three goals in his last three appearances for Martin O’Neill‘s side.

Whilst Iheanacho appears to be firing on all cylinders for the Hoops, Sebastian Tounekti has fallen out of form and is struggling on the pitch at the moment.

Why Celtic should drop Sebastian Tounekti from the team

The £5m signing from Hammarby was selected by O’Neill to start on the left wing against St Mirren last weekend, but he only lasted 61 minutes before the manager brought James Forrest on to replace him.

Tounekti failed to make anything happen at the top end of the pitch and has now gone 11 games without registering a goal or an assist for Celtic in all competitions.

The Tunisia international has struggled with consistency at the top end of the pitch throughout the season, as he has only produced two goals and one assist in the Premiership.

Tounekti has not delivered quality as a scorer or as a creator of goals on a regular basis in the league, as evidenced by how lowly he ranks among his teammates in a host of key attacking metrics.

His recent run of 11 games without a goal contribution does not come as a surprise, due to his general struggles at Celtic, and that is why O’Neill must drop him from the side for the Premiership clash with Falkirk on Saturday.

Celtic must drop Sebastian Tounekti to unleash their new Oliver Burke

One way in which the Northern Irish head coach could finally drop Tounekti from the starting line-up could be to unleash the club’s new version of Oliver Burke.

Supporters will remember Burke for his underwhelming loan spell in the second half of the 2018/19 campaign, scoring four goals in 19 games on loan from West Brom as a versatile attacker.

In the present day, Junior Adamu is starting to look like the new version of the Scottish forward at Parkhead, after a difficult start to life at the club since joining on loan from Freiburg in the winter window.

The Austria international’s last goal contribution was an assist for Luke McCowan against Stuttgart in the Europa League in February, and he has only started one match since then.

Adamu also scored a goal an earlier round of the SFA Cup against Dundee, with an exceptional finish in stoppage time to equalise for the Hoops.

Despite a couple of promising moments in the centre-forward position, though, Adamu has not been given many opportunities to shine, with three starts in all competitions, which is why he looks like the new Burke.

However, Tounekti’s disappointing form on the left flank could open the door for the Austrian forward to be unleashed in a new role on the wing for Celtic.

The 24-year-old is a natural centre-forward, which is where he has played for the Hoops so far, but he has started 11 career matches as a winger on the right or the left, which shows that he is no stranger to playing out wide.

It is, therefore, worth seeing if he can be effective off the left wing, cutting inside onto his favoured right foot, to see if he can finally make a success of his time on loan at Parkhead.

Adamu has shown promise in his limited game time, particularly with his performance against Stuttgart, and playing him out wide would be a good test to see if he has a future in that position at Celtic.

Related

£1m star has never played at left-back for Celtic, now he could replace Tierney

Celtic have a star who could replace Kieran Tierney at left-back, despite never having played in that position before.