Boyd blasts Molde for targeting Simunovic

Jozo Simunovic was targeted by Molde in the game and forced him to come off through injury, says former Celtic player Tom Boyd.

The 21-year-old was a doubt ahead of the game, after aggravating an ankle injury he sustained in the closing stages of Celtic’s 3-1 win over Aberdeen. He passed a late fitness test and started against Molde, but lasted just four minutes.

After spending a month on the sidelines recovering from the injury he was beginning to play regularly when he suffered the latest ankle injury and had to be substituted for Tyler Blackett.

As quoted by the Glasgow Evening Times, Boyd said:

It was late and I do think that it was deliberate. There has been no secret that Celtic have struggled defensively this season but they have looked more assured when Jozo has been in there.

Having him out of the game so early most certainly worked in Molde’s favour.

With barely five minutes gone in the game, Ronny Deila was forced to make a substitution in the game and ultimately could have cost Celtic their place in the Europa League this season.

Simunovic looked assured in defence alongside Dedryck Boyata in their four starts together so far, with both players feeding off each other and building a reliable partnership at the heart of the Celtic defence.

The Croatian did join up with his national team under the insistence from Deila that he must not play if the injury flares up. However, the Croatian manager Nenad Gracan, said he won’t use Simunovic as he hasn’t recovered from the ankle injury.

Instead, he will return to Lennoxtown and continue recovering from the injury, with the crucial game at home to Ajax on November 26th on both the player and Deila’s mind.