The former Hoops hero has his say on the Parkhead skipper's damning view on the tactical approach by the champions

All strikers go through lean spells. It might surprise some people, but I was partial to the odd goal drought myself.

The time at Chelsea was well documented but I remember I had a period at Blackburn Rovers during the title winning season when I couldn’t buy a goal.

I roomed with Tony Gale at the time and he had a wonderful piece of advice for me.

“F*** it,” he said.

Don’t think about things, don’t worry about missing – just stick the laces through it.

“F*** it.”

I was always a striker who liked to place the ball in the net but Tony was saying just smash it without overthinking things.

And I think it’s got to that stage with Kasper Hogh. I watched him in the warm up the other week and he was slowing things down, taking extra effort to place his shots in the net, being very deliberate.

He should try the opposite. It’s time for the ‘f*** it’ approach. Almost play like you don’t care.

I feel sorry for Hogh right now. He got hooked again at half-time and it’s become a regular theme.

His confidence must be hit but it’s not going to help build him back up when he’s getting left in the dressing room after 45 minutes or hooked soon after.

People are bashing him on the head with the number of games he’s gone without a goal, but how many of them has he had 90 minutes?

He’s not exactly missing chance after chance because Celtic are not creating chance after chance for him.

There was a big one at Hibs he should have scored but against Dundee United the other night he didn’t get much to go on, with strikers Camilo Duran and Callum Osmand playing in the wide roles.

Hogh did really well to set up Duran’s goal and it was superb backheel to tee up Benjamin Nygren for what should have been another.

But there wasn’t much else to go on and he simply must have been frustrated watching the second half with Jota and Haissem Hassan on the pitch lobbing crosses into the box with no-one there to take them.

I get the need to keep Duran on the pitch as he is more of a goal threat right now but I still thought it was a strange decision.

Hogh thrives on the services of wingers – but rarely gets to play with them.

How much time has he actually spent on the pitch with Hassan this season? Not much is the answer.

I know there are questions about the Egyptian’s end product, but I suspect it would be easier for him to have a target like Hogh to aim for in the box.

How O’Neill handles it is the big question. Does he give him another start at Falkirk on Sunday?

If he does, he can’t hook him at half-time if it’s not going to plan. I’ve been in games like these and sometimes the chances come late on when defences start to tire.

It’s a bit unfair doing the leg work only to get removed while someone else gets the benefit, leaving you getting slaughtered.

Starting on the bench might be a better solution for him. Play Duran through the middle and then bring Hogh on to mix things up.

He might come on and score when Celtic are comfortable or he could even pop up with a crucial goal to win a match.

Either way, he needs something to happen.

The Hogh situation is symptomatic of Celtic’s problems right now. It’s all a bit cobbled together and off the cuff.

Callum McGregor’s comments after the Dundee United game were telling – even thought I’d would rather they had been kept in-house.

Celtic are playing players out of position and relying on producing moments to win matches rather than controlling them.

McGregor admitted that might get you through a lot of games but eventually it bites you on the backside.

It did against Dundee United and could well happen again this weekend against an in-form and well organised Falkirk side.

McGregor is being criticised by the support as well but he’s been hung out to dry by the lack of cohesion and balance in the side.

The midfield is so lightweight and there’s little or no defensive cover coming from the wide men, regardless of who plays there.

He’s the one having to deal with teams countering on them and it’s left him exposed at times.

It’s no surprise he voiced his worries about it because he’s the one carrying the can on the pitch and the one taking the flak.

O’Neill no doubt has a lot to sort out and it’s another player who is almost questioning the set-up on the back of Cameron Carter-Vickers calling Celtic random.

I wouldn’t have imagined the manager taking to kindly to that one and it might be the same with McGregor. You get the feeling the captain is admitting problems and trying his best to find solutions.

But it will be interesting to see how O’Neill plays it this weekend.

It’s a huge opportunity to go seven points clear at the top of the Premiership and put the pressure on others playing catch-up.

The league table doesn’t lie but it doesn’t show the full picture at Celtic as everyone can see there are major questions to be answered.

Hogh is a huge one but they don’t need to bring in any sports psychologists to help him out when they could just ask me to have a word.

Make that two words – f*** it.