Hogh

With an hour gone at Parkhead on Thursday, hope in the stands was in short supply.

Celtic were 1-0 down against Besiktas and heading towards a fourth straight defeat in this season’s Europa League.

Manager Martin O’Neill turned to his bench for a spark, bringing on Callum Osmand and Camilo Duran to replace Sebastian Tounekti and James Forrest out wide.

The impact was almost instantaneous.

Osmand’s first touch nestled in the bottom corner of Alexander Nubel’s goal, just 43 seconds after the 20-year-old attacker came on.

All of a sudden, Celtic had a threat in behind and Besiktas looked rattled.

Then, on 77 minutes, O’Neill withdrew Kasper Hogh after another underwhelming display from the club record signing and moved Duran through the middle.

Again it had the desired effect.

Osmand played Duran through with a delightful pass and the Colombian rounded Nubel before slotting Celtic into the lead.

Orkun Kokcu levelled for Besiktas with a fine strike, but Duran had the final say two minutes later, controlling Kieran Tierney’s scuffed shot and beating Nubel from close range to send the home support into ecstasy.

The same cannot be said of Duran, who is thriving in a Celtic shirt and has 14 goal contributions – nine goals and five assists – in 15 games, many of which have come while playing in a wide role.

However, O’Neill has said that the Colombia international prefers to play centrally, and Halliday believes he can offer Celtic much more in that position – but what does that mean for Hogh?

“You look at Duran as a number nine on Sunday, the part he plays in the third goal, the fourth goal,” Halliday said.

“When Jamie McCart takes a loose touch, Hogh wouldn’t be close enough or quick enough to get on to that loose ball and spring Celtic into attack. Duran isn’t just a goalscorer, he’s so much more than that – and you saw that on Sunday.

“O’Neill still reckons Hogh will score 20 goals this season. It’s hard to suggest he wouldn’t, given his previous record at Bodo/Glimt, but at this moment in time, he isn’t doing enough to be in Celtic’s attack.

“O’Neill’s searching for his best team and best front three, and the three you saw on Sunday are that.”