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This should now be pretty much straightforward for Martin O’Neill: Camilo Duran is your starting striker.
Let’s be honest, Kasper Hogh’s form for Celtic is now starting to get very, very worrying because he has only scored in one game this season – and the Christmas trees will be going up soon!
That includes failing to score and getting hooked at the break in Celtic’s defeat to Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday night, and Duran moving up top for the second half and scoring a goal.
Ahead of Celtic’s Premiership clash against Hearts on Sunday, fans no longer want to see Hogh as the striker, but Duran, as the numbers back up why that should happen.
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It needs to be noted that in pre-season, Duran played every game as a striker and scored in every one of those matches.
The only reason O’Neill shifted Duran to the right when the season started is that Hogh was yet to join from Bodo/Glimt for his club-record transfer.
But apart from Celtic’s win over Kilmarnock at the start of August, where the Denmark star netted a hat-trick, it has been night and day between him and whoever plays down the middle, and that includes Chelsea’s rising youngster, Shim Mheuka, who is on a season-long loan in Glasgow and has looked rather lively from the bench.
In all competitions this season, Hogh has played 11 matches for Celtic, netting that hat-trick and supplying one assist. In total, he has played 807 minutes as the club’s central striker.
That’s nearly double the amount of time Duran has played in the central areas, and that includes any changes during the game.
Despite that, the versatile forward from Colombia is not just looking better on the eye than his fellow teammate when playing up top, but also on paper.
| Hogh’s games as a striker | Starts | Goals | Assists | Games scored or assisted in | 90 minutes completed | Total minutes |
| 11 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 807 |
| Duran’s games as a striker | Starts | Goals | Assists | Games scored or assisted in | 90 minutes completed | Total minutes |
| 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 467 |
What’s interesting is that when Duran was first moved up top in a competitive game, he netted a brace within 29 minutes against Falkirk.
Then he started up top against Aberdeen, scoring after 14 minutes, with the champions of Scotland going 3-0 up by the break in that contest.
Not forgetting that Duran also assisted Hyunjun Yang for his winner during the win at St Mirren before the international break.
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