TAKING over from Celtic captain Callum McGregor in the holding midfielder’s role against St Johnstone in a cinch Premiership match at McDiarmid Park is one thing.
Doing so against Bundesliga rivals RB Leipzig in a crucial Champions League group game at a packed Parkhead is quite another.
Matt O’Riley, the Danish playmaker who dropped back and deputised for his injured skipper on Saturday, performed well in the narrow league win in Perth.
But will he be able to help Ange Postecoglou’s side record a victory over Marco Rose’s team tonight and increase their chances of reaching the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club competition for the fourth time in their history?
He will have to help cut off the supply to Christopher Nkunku, Andre Silva and Timo Werner, not just nullify the threat posed by, no disrespect to him, Nicky Clark.
Much will depend on how the London-born player performs in the pivotal position this evening.
However, O’Riley has extensive experience in McGregor’s berth – he played there at Fulham and MK Dons before moving to Celtic earlier this year – and is looking forward to what will be one of the greatest challenges of his career to date.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “I’ve done it before with both previous clubs. I feel comfortable in any midfield role, whether it be a bit deeper, as an eight or even a bit higher up. It doesn’t bother me at all.
“Obviously, I’ve played higher up a wee while now so I know that role very well. So in terms of adapting that’s something I’m going to have to do quite quickly.
“But they’re both thinking roles. I’ve just got to think in slightly different ways. I’ve got to be more defensively aware in certain aspects.
“Before, I’m probably more front foot, setting the press off. Whereas now I’m more that second support option for the press, just focusing on getting a good connection with the players all around me. I know what I need to do, which is the main thing. It’s just about doing it now.”
O’Riley continued: “Naturally, he (McGregor) is probably the last player you want to be injured. But we’re going to have to deal with it, as you do.
“We’ve got enough capable players to hopefully perform without him. He’s been away for a couple of days because he’s had to take care of seeing the specialist etc.
“But he’s back now and I’m sure tomorrow at the game he’ll come in the dressing room and be a voice there.”
The 21-year-old feels that his captain’s leadership qualities will be missed every bit as much as his ability on the ball and acknowledges that he and others will need to make themselves heard on the park.
He believes, though, that Cameron Carter-Vickers was an excellent choice to don the armband and is certain the United States centre half will lead by example against Leipzig.
“Other people are going to have to step up, naturally,” he said. “I’ll probably have to be more vocal than usual in the midfield area.
“But we’ve got enough characters in the team to hopefully step up and be fine. I think we’ve got enough leaders. I believe so.
“We all know each other really well. We all get along with each other. I don’t think it should be too much of a problem.
“Callum is a massive loss, but we’re going to have to adapt to being without him. On the pitch especially I’m fine with giving instructions and stuff like that.
“I’m not the loudest guy in the team naturally. It’s not really what I’m like. But of course if I need to say something I will.
“The position I’m playing tomorrow, I’m going to have to take some responsibility in terms go getting on the ball and so on. But with the structure we have, I know the role well enough to do that, so I’m feeling good.”
O’Riley added: “Cam is someone who probably isn’t the loudest guy in the team, but just from his presence, his performances and being so consistent people respect him in that way. He’s another person who speaks when he needs to and I think in the last game he did it really well.
“You’ve seen with past captains, they’re quite often centre-halves, centre-mids, goalkeepers. It’s quite common for this positions to be captain. I’m sure he’ll do really well as captain of our team.”
O’Riley and his team mates have acquitted themselves well for long spells in their opening three Group F games against Real Madrid at home and Shakhtar Donetsk and Leipzig away – but they only have a point to show for their efforts so far.
He believes the Glasgow club need to perform from kick-off to the final whistle tomorrow evening if they are to record a victory and boost their prospects of finishing in the top two in their section and going through to the last 16.
“It’s the difference at this level,” he said. “We’ve found that out. If you concede a chance, more often than not they’re going to take it. It’s about being really switched on for the whole 90 minutes, not just 50 or 60 minutes. That’s been our real challenge.
“We’ve created the chances. It’s just about taking them now. It was the same at the weekend against St Johnstone. We had more than enough to put the game to bed early. But we didn’t. It’s something we’ve been working on and hopefully tomorrow it starts to change.
“But we’ve proven at the weekend we’ve got that character being in a very tough position in the 92nd minute and still coming back and winning the game. The spirit and the mindset is all there, it always has been through the whole of the season. It’s just been that little bit of composure in these bigger games to really put them to bed. “That’s football though. If you don’t take your chances at this level you’re going to get punished. We know we’ve been playing well so it’s just about that final detail. Hopefully against Leipzig things will start to change.”
