Matt O'Riley reckons Celtic are reaching English Premier League levels in Scotland’s top flight.
And the Parkhead ace insists Ange Postecoglou’s blinkered and relentless team are determined to keep raising their ever-heightening bar. Celtic are rampaging their way through the campaign and their latest success at Kilmarnock brought hefty praise from defeated home star Kyle Vassell who says facing them was like tackling a Premier League team from his days in England.
Vassell said: “When I played Premier League teams in the cup. Genuinely, the top teams. My comparison would be a Premier League team. The way they are organised and they are so disciplined, they just keep the ball. They are a cut above.”
O’Riley was coy over a direct comparison in the divisions, but admits that receiving such plaudits from an opposition player is a superb sign of the squad’s blistering progress and form.
The Celtic star said: “It’s hard to compare us to the Premier League because we haven’t played in that league before. But, in terms of the level that we’re playing at now, it’s probably to that level which is nice. When it’s recognised by other players that you’re playing against, it’s obviously a good sign.”
However, O’Riley and his team are aiming even higher. Celtic already have the Viaplay Cup in the bag, need just seven points from their last six Premiership games to regain the title and are in the last four of the Scottish Cup.
Postecoglou’s team can break a league points record having dropped just five all term. They have won 37 out of 39 domestic matches with only one loss and have smashed 131 goals in all competitions.
But O’Riley says there’s no set targets within the unit and that the only motivation is to keep lifting the astounding levels. He said: “We all want more. We want to continue to raise the bar that we set ourselves.
“There’s no set target in terms of the amount of goals or points we should be getting, but if we continue the way we are, we should be in a nice place at the end of the season. Especially since the World Cup break, the consistency of performance has been very, very high.
“I wouldn’t say we are peaking. I think we’ve been at a good level for a long time, to be perfectly honest. It’s now the business end of the season where we need to maintain that level and increase it, and I think we are doing that.”
Celtic scorched into a 4-0 lead inside half-an-hour in Ayrshire and O’Riley helped himself to two of the goals. He said: “It was fun. We changed the shape slightly in midfield which I think worked really well, especially in terms of the way they set up.
“It was enjoyable. It’s always nice when you score goals, obviously. But to be honest it was just nice to be playing the football we did, especially in that first half.”
Once again, Celtic responded perfectly on a Sunday having had their lead at the top pegged back the previous day by Rangers. Ironically, Postecoglou’s men play first this weekend at home to Motherwell before their nearest challengers go to Aberdeen the following day.
But O’Riley said: “We try not to pay too much attention to anybody else. I know everyone else externally is probably thinking about that, but if we do that, it doesn’t bring us any benefit. We’re just focused on what we need to do. That’s what we try to do every week.”
With a lead of a dozen points, Celtic can almost touch the title, but O’Riley insists he is not even contemplating what could lie beyond the next outing against Motherwell on Saturday.
He continued: “We’re not thinking about that too much. We’ve got some really big games ahead of us. One more league game then the semi-final. It’s a boring answer, but it’s genuinely one game at a time. That’s the best mentality to have.”
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