Robbie Neilson spots the key Hearts strength that Celtic lack as squad comparison unearths key finding

Robbie Neilson reckons Hearts’ strength in depth gives them an edge over Celtic in the Premiership title race.

The former Jambos boss and player has been assessing the current champions after they lost to another of his ex-side’s, Dundee United, last Sunday. It leaves Celtic third and five points off leaders Hearts after they defeated Dundee 1-0, boosted by a return for Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland after injury. Rangers are second and three points behind Derek McInnes’ leading pack.

Neilson feels Celtic have been hampered by bad transfer business while others like Daizen Maeda look to be eyeing the exit door. He reckons Hearts’ bench is stronger than Celtic’s when both are compared, as the Lommel assistant coach feels something special will be needed for Hoops to claim glory.

Celtic transfer business assessed

Speaking to the Scottish Football Podcast, Neilson said: “I think both ends of the pitch, when you're looking at the striker options, and you've got Kelechi Iheanacho. He’s only played like five games and they're relying on him now to come in and try and score goals. Obviously Benjamin Nygren has got 14, but other than that, they're just not scoring. They're not creating. In the game at the weekend against Dundee United, I watched it, and you would expect Celtic to make substitutions and bring on goals.

“The game goes in their favour, as we've seen over the years, and they score in the last couple of minutes. It was just flat. I think from a striking point of view, the recruitment has been poor. They've not scored enough goals, not created enough chances. Also defensively, you know, it seems to be a lottery every time you pick a defence, who they're going to go with.

“I think it's been spoken about, the recruitment side of things, not been good enough this season. Also, you've got Jota out injured, who over the last season is a top player. You're missing guys like that. So I just think that the recruitment has been really poor. I just think, when you look at Celtic's bench, they don't have those top quality players that they've had previously.

What do Hearts have that Celtic don’t

“Daizen Maeda at times last season would maybe be coming on for the last 30 minutes, and the game is then open, and he can go and score one or two goals and take the game away. But now you're relying on him from the start. He's playing striker, he's playing left. There were transfer issues in January.

“He just looks as if he wants out and the squad at Celtic doesn't have anywhere near the options that Hearts have. When you look at Hearts' bench, when they're making changes, they're bringing goals on. They've got Lawrence Shankland coming back now. If Martin can get the title back to Parkhead this season, he should get a statue, because they just do not have the squad to do it.

”I think one of the big things as well is that they're now losing value on these players. You know, Maeda last season could be going for £25-30 million, potentially, because he was doing so well. But this season, you're maybe looking at £5-10 million. It's not just the recruitment coming in that's been poor, but the actual transfers going out causes a big problem. You know, if he leaves in the summer now, his value has come way down. It's a different ballgame of the players you're going to bring in. So, yeah, there's a lot of issues in there.”

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