PATIENCE, they say, is a saintly virtue, but it isn’t a quality typically possessed by your average football fan. Celtic supporters though may well have to show a little forbearance at times this season as the opposition do their damnedest simply to stop their team playing.
That’s the verdict of Matt O’Riley, with the Celtic midfielder detailing how Ange Postecoglou’s side have gone about breaking teams down during their impressive start to the season. It is very much a team approach, and one that has lent itself so far to a pretty decent spread of goals.
For instance, O’Riley details how he sacrificed himself at times for the greater good during the recent win at Ross County, where late goals from Moritz Jenz and Liel Abada secured a victory that looked to be drifting away from the champions.
It is this selfless approach that he believes holds the key to overcoming packed defences in the Premiership this term, with Celtic being able to overwhelm any defence eventually by providing threats from every area of the pitch. In other words, try as the opposition might to plug the multiple holes in the dam, eventually the torrent will burst through.
“It’s important that we have a spread of goals from all over the team,” O’Riley said.
“That’s the case especially with the way teams play against us in Scotland. They really try to stop us from playing our game and we need to find a way past that.
“Take the Ross County game as an example, they were following the midfielders all over the pitch. I would run out wide and that left Cameron Carter-Vickers with the space to run all the way up the pitch and shoot.
“That kind of shows that we will have to use as many options, and resources, as we can to score in certain games this season.
“Sometimes in Scotland, we need to wear teams down and then look for the openings after 60-70 minutes. Spaces can open up even more at that point and I think late goals could be quite common this season with the way teams [are] being set up.
“Being patient is important, we need to find the space when we can and then it’s a case of being clinical when we get the chances.”
Celtic fans may also be getting a little impatient as they wait to find out which glamour ties await in them in the Champions League, with the long-awaited group stage draw set to take place a week today in Istanbul.
The Celtic players are of course excited by the prospect too, but it is very much at the back of their minds according to O’Riley, with an acknowledgment that in a contest as tight as the Premiership title race already appears to be shaping up as, they cannot afford to take their eye off the here and now.
“I haven’t actually thought about the Champions League that much,” he said.
“We are very process-focused at Celtic and it’s very much about the day to day. It’s about training and preparing for the next game.
“We know the draw is coming up and there are going to be massive teams in it. When the group comes out, I will have a think about the competition a bit more.
“But this month has been about focusing on the league games every weekend. It’s all about the present and what we control.
“The next game is always the biggest at Celtic. That’s how it is. With the amount of fixtures at this club, there is no other option.
“We could end up playing over 60 games this season so you can’t afford to think too far ahead.
“Let’s be patient, focus on the next game and take it all as it comes.”
It may have been thought by some that when O’Riley arrived at Celtic from MK Dons in January, a measure of grace would have to be applied to the judgment of the 21-year-old too, given the step up in level and in the size of club he was now representing.
He took to life at Celtic though with remarkable speed, impressing from the get-go after being thrown into the team and staking his claim for a regular place in the midfield, one of the most competitive areas of this Celtic side.
That’s not to say though that he wouldn’t have liked more time on the training field at that point as he looked to adjust to the demands placed on the Celtic players by his new manager, and the rather unique style that Postecoglou adopts.
The new arrivals at Celtic this summer have been afforded such a luxury, something O’Riley feels will benefit the team as whole in the long run.
“Having extra training time does help some of the new boys adjust to the way we are playing,” he said.
“This four-week spell when we don’t have midweek games should help us a lot.
“The players’ bodies will get used to the training and that’s good, as come September it is going to be pretty full on.
“Having this period is going to help us later in the season.”
