The Kyogo or Idah Ibrox debate is no debate it all. It should be Kyogo all the way.

I see there’s some discussion today about what the team should be for Ibrox. Now, let’s bear in mind that we’re two games away from having to even think about that. I would prefer that we get those two games out of the way and the points in the bag before we even consider what happens in that match. But since these discussions are happening, I want to comment on one particular facet of them.

There’s a debate about whether or not we should leave Kyogo out at Ibrox and go instead with Adam Idah.

In some ways, I understand the thinking behind this. On the other hand, no, not so much. The reason I favour Kyogo starting that game is the sheer weight of damage he has inflicted upon the Ibrox club since he was signed. This hasn’t been a vintage goal-scoring season for him—not so far anyway—but I’m less concerned about that than I would be if we were a team reliant on our front men to get all the goals.

Kyogo’s very presence in the team opens up spaces. He must be marked carefully, which takes at least one defensive player out of the game. And as we saw at the weekend, a couple of times when Kyogo did get away from his marker, that doesn’t always work. In terms of sheer game intelligence, he is far and away the best player in this league.

Idah gives you a different dimension. He’s physically strong, aggressive, holds the ball up well, and helps bring others into the game. He also has a knack for scoring important goals in big matches. He could be relied upon at Ibrox to do a good job. But you’re talking about two very different styles and two very different players, and you need to be careful about which one you pick on any given day.

The Ibrox club is playing at home. They’re arrogant enough at the moment to believe they’ve got what it takes to get a result, so they’re going to come at us. They won’t sit back with 11 men behind the ball.

That will create the kind of space where Kyogo thrives. In that space, he’ll be extremely dangerous to them, as he has been so many times before. We’ll need his movement and ability to find those spaces, especially if it turns out that Nat Phillips doesn’t make the game. Of course, we all sincerely hope he does because Phillips is the last player we want to be without for a while.

Regular readers know I don’t sentimentalise any player in the team. If it’s in the best interests of the side, I’m all for dropping anyone at any time.

So, this isn’t about Kyogo being a favourite. I genuinely think that with his style of play, he’s a bigger threat than Idah on that day. That’s why I would select him, 100 times out of 100, for that fixture.

I understand the debate. I understand people holding the opinion that Idah might be a better bet on the day. I just don’t necessarily agree.

Kyogo has that unpredictability, that ability to do something nobody else can do, that capacity to turn a game with a single moment of magic—as he’s done so many times before. To me, that makes it an absolute no-brainer.

I’d love it if he were scoring more often. I’d love to see him bag a hat-trick and start firing in goals every week again, as he did a couple of seasons ago. But this team isn’t built around one player or one position. That’s the strength of this side, and it’s why we’ve been successful this season and last. Rodgers emphasises the primacy of the team above all else, and the players respond to that as a unit.

The next two games are important ones. If Kyogo plays well and bags a hat-trick in one of them, nobody will be talking about leaving him out. Ultimately, it’s up to him to dampen down this talk—and the chatter about Celtic being in a slump. Some slump, eh? We’ve just added another trophy to the collection.

Kyogo does need to be a little sharper now, but we know what this guy can do. This isn’t blind faith; it’s based on what we’ve seen him do time and again. That’s why I think he’ll start—and why he absolutely should.