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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

Kyogo's secret Celtic weapon revealed as John Kennedy lifts lid on 'the beauty' of Japanese star

John Kennedy says Kyogo's determination to stick to Ange Postecoglou's plan is the main reason the goals just keep coming from the Japanese star.

The 28-year-old took his tally to 22 for the season in Celtic's win over St Johnstone and he has six goals in his last five appearances for the Hoops. He's top of the Scottish Premiership scoring charts, two clear of Lawrence Shankland, and has averaged a goal for every 81 minutes he has played in the league this season.

He's been one of Postecoglou's best signings since joining from Vissel Kobe and Kennedy reckons it's all because Celtic's shy guy sticks unwaveringly to the plan - even in spells when things aren't going so well. He told Celtic TV: "He's a terrific player, we've seen that from the minute he walked through the door. We'd heard about him before he came and straight away he hit the ground running here and he's never looked back.

"Even in times when he's not been as fluid in front of goal and times when the goals have been flying in, his game doesn't change. That's the beauty of it. Sometimes what happens is strikers go out of form, they don't score in a couple of games and they go searching, they go looking for things. Kyogo sticks to the same plan all the time.

"First and foremost he does his job for the team, he presses really hard, he puts the defenders under a lot of pressure and he constantly gives us the out with his movement. He's terrific. The boys now know his game and that's the evolution of the team. As they play more with each other, they understand each other. They train with each other every day.

"They don't have to spend so much time thinking about things because they know what's going to happen, they know where he's going to be so they can put the ball into areas without looking half the time. Top player, top individual in terms of how he trains and as a professional, and he's getting his just rewards for it at the moment.

"He's a very humble guy. He appreciates what the fans offer the team and him himself. He takes a great lift from scoring in front of the crowd, you see he's straight over to the crowd at the end of the games. He's usually the one up front leading the party but he's not like that at all.

"He goes around the training ground, he's very quiet on the training pitch. He works ever so hard like the rest of them do and just gets on with his business but that's testament to the type of character he is."

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