Earlier this week, The Celtic Way published a piece on how Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn were two of the only bright spots for the side in an otherwise turgid and lacklustre affair at Pittodrie.

Indeed, his assist led to the German’s first goal for the club, which in turn meant that the Norwich loanee had made an instant impact when making his debut, setting up the equaliser in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen on Saturday afternoon. A solid start from the Republic of Ireland stalwart, whose contributions would have been appreciated by his fellow January arrival in Kuhn.

READ MORE: Detailed Celtic player ratings as Idah steals the show

Fast forward just a few days, and Celtic look to have a new hero on their hands in the form of the powerful striker. As much as Kuhn struggled to get anything going at all against Hibernian at Easter Road, his focal point in Idah turned out to be the star of the show from 12 yards, scoring both penalties to seal a much-needed victory for Brendan Rodgers, his first at the ground.

Using Wyscout and StatsBomb, we analyse the striker’s ice-cold killer instincts from the spot, as well as what that might mean for the likes of Luis Palma and Kyogo Furuhashi, both in terms of penalty kick duties and the striking position as a whole.

Idah’s first penalty (10’)

Before we discuss the technique shown by the striker to coolly slot his strike past Hibs’ David Marshall, it is important to recognise how long Idah had to wait to take his penalty. Not of his own doing, of course, but his teammate Alistair Johnston had to be taken off, following an accidental headbutt from opposition defender Nectarios Triantis leading to the spot-kick concession. Six minutes passed from the foul to Idah taking his spot-kick, so the forward had a lot of time to think about where he was going to place his penalty.

Idah cut a confident figure, both in person and on reflection when viewing clips after the game. A regular penalty kick taker for his parent club Norwich City, the striker looked to have zero doubts in his mind on where he was going to place the penalty, despite the pause in play due to Johnston’s head injury. Stepping to the side, his run-up was one of calmness personified, as he strutted towards the spot. There was only going to be one winner here between Celtic’s number nine and former keeper David Marshall.

After a confident step-up to the penalty spot, Idah opened his foot up and slammed the ball past Marshall, who dived to his right-hand side. The veteran’s guess was a wrong one, as Idah went the other way, nestling the ball in the opposite direction and giving the former Scotland international no chance of saving the accurate strike at goal. This was the 22-year-old’s first goal for the club in just his second appearance, as well as a goal on his first start for his temporary employers. Celtic were in the driving seat and looked to be in full control of proceedings early on.

StatsBomb automatically judges every penalty as being 0.78 in xG, as well as 0.88 in PSxG once it leaves the attacker’s boot. Despite this generalisation, this penalty was a good one, placed in near enough the same vicinity as the corner of the net. With Idah now having both a goal and an assist to his name in very little game-time, he would have been feeling good about his initial impact on Rodgers’ team thus far in his tenure.

Idah’s second penalty (92)

From one pressure-filled moment to another at both the start and end of the match, it is fair to say that Idah was under more pressure to convert this spot-kick, rather than the one he was tasked to score at the beginning of the game. Indeed, the visitors to the capital had ridden their luck in this game, as the hosts had ample opportunities to punish Celtic, especially after scoring the equaliser through Dylan Levitt.

Following good work by substitute Kyogo to get himself into the box, he was taken out by Joe Newell after taking a shot, which was judged to be inside the box following a VAR review by the referee. Although he did not have to wait the same length of time as his first penalty, the pressure and expectation placed on his shoulders would have been palpable in the Ireland striker’s mind.

Again running up to the goal with the same calmness and confidence, Idah was once again the most composed individual at Easter Road, both on and off of the pitch. Stepping to the side again before a slow run-up it was Ireland vs Scotland in the shape of Idah and Marshall, with an extra two points on the line for the victor of this 12-yard duel.

Nerves? What nerves? A star was born in Scotland’s capital, with Idah converting his penalty once again. Although he took this penalty a little bit differently – with his shot rolling into the back of the net rather than flying to its target – it had the same conclusion as the first one. Marshall elected to dive to his left for this chance, and once again his opponent called his bluff. Side-footing his shot to the keeper’s right, Idah’s conversion was a good one, which led to the stand in front of him going ballistic with euphoria.

Once again, the xG and PSxG of this shot were calculated at 0.78 and 0.88 respectively. Regardless, Idah chose the right way and Marshall guessed wrong, which in turn led to a massive win for Rodgers’ men, all thanks to Idah.

What does this mean for others?

In all competitions this season, Celtic have been awarded 13 penalties, scoring nine at a rate of 69.2 per cent. Four different takers have been entrusted with converting from 12 yards, with Palma taking five and the recently departed David Turnbull stepping up four times in the first half of the campaign. Of these players, Idah has the best percentage, with a perfect 100 per cent success rate for his two spot-kicks taken. The next highest is Turnbull with 75 per cent, followed by Palma at 60 and Reo Hatate at 50. You would think that this would point to a clear and obvious spot-kick taker in the form of Idah, but will the imposing striker be on the pitch to take these chances when they arise?

READ MORE: Celtic instant analysis as Adam Idah steps up to the plate

 A good conundrum to have, and one that Rodgers will not need to think about for too long. At this point, Idah is the main man up front for the side, though Kyogo’s past goodwill may mean a return to the starting line-up for this weekend’s Scottish Cup game against St Mirren. Rodgers may even try to play both of his forwards from the start in Paisley at the weekend. With Oh Hyeon-gyu on his way back to Scotland after the Asia Cup, there will be reinforcements on the bench to cover for any injuries that occur.

Regardless, it will be reassuring for all concerned with the club that they may have found the solution to their penalty problems this season. Here’s hoping he is on the pitch when the next one comes around for Rodgers’ stuttering side at present.