Forget Bitton: £8.2k-p/w Celtic flop who made 3 passes will be giving Ange nightmares - opinion

Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side went into Saturday afternoon’s Premiership encounter knowing that a win would provide them with an enormous boost ahead of the upcoming Old Firm clash on Wednesday.

Indeed, after the Bhoys’ Glasgow rivals dropped two points in a 3-3 draw with Ross County earlier in the day, the Hoops knew that a win against Dundee United would take them to within two points of the league leaders ahead of their midweek meeting at Parkhead.

While it took until the 91st minute for Liel Abada to finally make the breakthrough, Celtic just about did enough to get over the line – although in truth the Bhoys’ performance was far from their best of the season.

Indeed, with the Hoops enjoying 75% possession, creating six big chances and having 21 shots at the Dundee United goal, it should not have taken them until the first minute of stoppage time to take the lead against a team who currently sit seventh in the Premiership table. That wastefulness was largely down to the display of Giorgos Giakoumakis.

With the 27-year-old currently being Postecoglou’s only available centre-forward – Daizen Maeda is on international duty with Japan and Kyogo Furuhashi is out with a hamstring injury – the Bhoys boss once again started the Greece international as the focal point of his three-man attack.

However, over the course of his 83 minutes on the pitch, the £1.8m-rated striker offered next to nothing up top. He had just 21 touches of the ball – 17 fewer than Joe Hart between the Celtic sticks – completed a mere three of his six attempted passes and missed two of the six big chances that his team-mates created.

Furthermore, the £8.2k-per-week hitman also won just two of his nine duels, lost possession of the ball on 12 separate