Rodgers must use his £16k-per-week magician over Hatate.

The Hoops central midfielder has enjoyed a strong start to the season so far.

Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers will have some difficult selection decisions to make today as his side return to Scottish Premiership action this afternoon.

The Hoops travel away from Parkhead to face Livingston and will be hoping to maintain, and possibly extend, their lead at the top of the table.

They are, however, heading into the match off the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Feyenoord in their opening Champions League group stage match during the week.

One player who must be unleashed from the start today after being on the bench in midweek is Scotland international David Turnbull, who should be brought in to replace Reo Hatate in the starting XI.

How did Reo Hatate perform against Feyenoord?

The Japan international played 58 minutes against the Dutch side and struggled to impose himself on the game in the middle of the park.

Celtic endured a rough evening as they were beaten fairly easily by Feyenoord and Hatate’s performance played a role in that, particularly with his lack of quality out of possession.

Although, it was Joe Hart at fault for the first goal as Calvin Stengs’ free-kick from distance bounced up in front of the former England international, which resulted in the ball squeezing through his fingers and into the back of the net.

Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm were also both sent off as the central defender was shown two yellow cards and the Norwegian talent received a straight red for a late studs-up challenge.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh then sealed all three points for the home side on the night as the ball broke free for him in the box and the ex-Brighton ace smashed it into the top corner to make it 2-0.

Hatate, meanwhile, lost two of his three duels (66.6%) and failed to make a single tackle, interception, clearance, or block throughout his time on the pitch, as per Sofascore.

This shows that the Japanese lightweight, who was also dribbled past once, struggled to deal with the physicality of the game as he did virtually nothing to put a stop to Feyenoord’s attacks, which allowed them to continually pile on Hart’s goal.

He did not make up for his lack of defensive nous with quality in possession as the 25-year-old maestro only completed 71% of his attempted passes and did not create a single ‘big chance’ for his teammates, along with his failure to find the back of the net himself.

How many goals has Hatate scored this season?

The Hoops midfielder is yet to get his name on the scoresheet this term as the talented ace had failed to score in three Premiership outings prior to his struggles against Feyenoord.

Hatate has averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.77 across three league matches so far this season and failed to score a single goal or create a ‘big chance’ at the top end of the pitch. He also has been dominated by opposition players with a duel success rate of just 33% in the Scottish top-flight.

This comes after the Japanese whiz scored six goals and created ten ‘big chances’ in 32 league games for Celtic throughout the 2022/23 campaign.

He showcased his creativity on a regular basis with 1.3 key passes per game for the Bhoys, which was only bettered by five other players, and ended the season as the club’s top-scoring central midfield ace.

However, Hatate is yet to get back to those levels this time around and that is why Rodgers must unleash Turnbull from the start today, after the Scottish gem’s excellent start to the campaign.

How many goals has David Turnbull scored this season?

The former Motherwell midfielder has produced three goals in five Premiership matches since the start of the 2023/24 season as Rodgers has placed his faith in the talented wizard.

Turnbull only started six league games under Ange Postecoglou last term and, as a result, only contributed with four goals and four ‘big chances’ created for the team across 28 appearances in total.