O’Riley Makes Brilliant Celtic Dressing Room Claim
Matt O’Riley returned to form on Sunday, bagging a brace as Celtic stormed to victory in Ayrshire.
The Dane had slightly fell off prior to the Glasgow derby but since then, has begun to capture the imagination once more with two goals and an assist in two games.
He is still at a tender age and growing game by game yet appears more than up to the standard when he performs at his best.
This is something he certainly did at the weekend and after the Killie game, O’Riley came out and praised his fellow eye catching performers Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi:
“That just shows the depth of our squad. Yuki and Tomoki have come in from another country and culture and have settled in really quickly.
“And it helps that they are both genuinely very nice people as well, so they’ve settled into our culture very easily. They are both really making an effort to speak English with us which definitely helps.”
So far, Iwata and Kobayashi have somewhat been on the fringes of Postecoglou’s squad however have come into the fray in recent times.
It is refreshing to see that the pair are contributing well to the dressing room and are making a conscious effort to learn to speak the native language of the majority of their teammates.
As well as being prodigious off the park, the Japanese duo are contributing on it:
“On the pitch you can see they are enjoying themselves. Yuki probably hasn’t played as much as he wants to but when he’s been asked he’s performed really well.”
14th January 2023; Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland: Scottish Viaplay Cup Football Semi Final, Celtic versus Kilmarnock; Yuki Kobayashi of Celtic warms up
Moreover, the Dane also said how the diversity within the Celtic dressing room is greatly beneficial:
“We have got a lot of different nationalities in that team, with a nice blend of Japanese and pure Scottish guys who keep it, well, Scottish! It’s quite unique. It’s a nice balance. There are no hard feelings if someone plays over you. We’re still all going to chat and be friends.”
Undoubtedly, the Celtic players recognise the tremendous competition for starting berths in Postecoglou’s team.
Despite them having to beat each other to places, they are all still on good terms at the end of the day and it is great to hear of such harmony within the Hoops’ squad.
