Celtic’s Luis Palma has received high praise from Pat Bonner for his performance against St. Mirren, after he seemed to change his playing style.
The Honduran international, who had a promising start at Celtic, faced criticism for his recent form. This scrutiny seems to have catalysed a transformation in Palma’s approach to the game, as observed in Celtic’s recent Scottish Cup tie.
He was keen to take his man on and get to the byline and get his head up to pick out a pass. With Kyogo also playing a different position, he set up the Japanese striker for the first goal.
Bonner, speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast, highlighted the noticeable change in Palma’s game. “I thought the difference today was Palma, and I did talk about him in the last couple of weeks. Today it looked as if they’ve studied what he’s been doing in games and you’ve got to give credit to the player too that he almost changed his game a little bit,” Bonner commented.
The former Celtic hero elaborated on the adjustments Palma made, particularly noting his effectiveness in wide areas and his contribution to Celtic’s attacking play. “He got to the byline, he got on that left foot and put some dangerous crosses in. He put the cross into the back post for O’Riley who hit the crossbar and it came back to Maeda,” Bonner said, pointing out a specific moment that underscored Palma’s impact on the match.
His numbers are great at Celtic, but fans are in agreement he needs to add more to his game. However, Sunday’s performance did show he can do it.
