“I don’t like talking about myself,” said a bashful Aaron Mooy after his double helped Celtic to skoosh their way past Morton in the Scottish Cup. Luckily for the midfielder though, there are plenty of others who are starting to talk about his influence on this Celtic team.
The opposition – game as they were – may have been modest, but Mooy has been turning in these kinds of all-action performances for some time now. He was everywhere against Morton, pressuring opponents high up the park, getting back to help defensively when required, making himself available for his teammates and popping up in dangerous areas.
It was the last of those qualities that earned him his second goal of the day, getting on the end of Sead Haksabanovic’s cut-back to thump home Celtic’s fifth into the bottom corner from the centre of the box.
Mooy has hardly been prolific as he has slowly worked his way towards full fitness since returning to Scotland, but his performances have been catching the eye more and more. And he has now hit four goals, as he repeated the feat of scoring a penalty and another goal from open play that he managed in the 4-0 win at Hibernian.
“I’m trying my best to get on the score sheet, I hit the post and had another couple of chances, so probably should have ended up with more – but I’ll settle for two,” Mooy said.
“I don’t know if I’m now a goal scoring midfielder. I don’t know if you’ve followed my career, different parts of it. But some managers have liked to use me in a deeper role, others have played me further forward. I just try to fit into the system.
“I’m learning the system here every day, trying to get better at it every day. And the one thing about it is you are going to get chances to score. Hopefully I can keep taking those chances.”
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is always at pains to point out that he doesn’t have a first choice starting XI, but it would be fair to say the consensus in the midfield at least is that Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate are nailed on to make up two of that trio in games of significance.
Until recently, Matt O’Riley would have been considered firmly at the head of the queue to take the final place in the midfield, but the former MK Dons man has suffered his first slight dip in form of late after consistently impressing in the year since he made the step up to Celtic.
It is a strange quirk that O’Riley has yet to find the net this season in any competition, and though he has still shown his undoubted quality even as his overall contribution has tailed off a little of late, he now has the first real threat to his regular spot in the team in the shape of Mooy.
Perhaps the emergence of Mooy should not be viewed as a negative for the overall development of O’Riley though, who is still young at just 22.
He has looked a little jaded of late, which is understandable when you consider he has 31 appearances to his name already this term – not including international duty with Denmark’s under-21 side – to add to the 50 games he managed made last season.
Being able to take him out of the side on occasion may be beneficial for O’Riley in the long term, just as the arrival of Tomoki Iwata may allow for Postecoglou to rest captain McGregor now and again, and ensure he is at his freshest when he is called upon.
Mooy too will require the odd rest, admitting that the turnaround from training in a park as a free agent in the summer to playing in the Champions League with Celtic and representing his country at the World Cup has taken an emotional toll.
“It’s been a good year so far, lots of experiences,” he said. “Playing at the World Cup, competing in the Champions League for a big club like Celtic. I’m just trying to make the most if it, soak it all in – and try to get better.
“It is a bit emotionally tiring. The World Cup takes it out of you because every game you feel is just so big. You feel, I don’t know, it’s hard to explain unless you’ve been through it. But it’s an emotional thing, playing at the World Cup, representing your country.
“Fortunately, it was in the middle of the season, rather than at the end. I think playing in the World Cup at the end of the season could have really knocked it out of you. But in some ways, it just feels like part of the season.
“The fact that Australia had a good tournament maybe makes it easier, too. That helps, I think.
“I’ve probably been more consistent since coming back from the World Cup. I don’t know. I don’t like to talk about myself.”
The fans though are now singing his name long and loud, and that will tell Mooy everything he needs to know about how his Celtic career is progressing.
