The five players to deliver the SPL title to Celtic
Over the next four months Celtic have three trophies to play for but for everyone at the club the League Cup and Scottish are very much secondary prizes with the return of the SPL title meaning everything.
Regardless of the daily pantomime coming out of Ibrox Neil Lennon’s focus is solely on Celtic and extending the 12 match winning run in the SPL- another 12 wins will almost certainly clinch the title!
Video Celts contributor Paul Morgan suggested that I canvass some supporters on the most important players of the season so far, kicking things off Paul shares his views on the five players who have contributed most to taking Celtic to the top of the table.
5 Charlie Mulgrew
Charlie has put together a very solid season so far. It is only since we started him at CB that the team started performing again. We have only lost one game in sixteen with Mulgrew as starting CB and only conceded 12 goals. He is a great player to have in the team because of his versatility, his composure on the ball and his excellent vision. Charlie has also pitched in at the other end with a few important goals and assists. All in all, we are a better team with him starting.
4 Gary Hooper
Hooper is turning into the best out and out striker we have had in years. The lad is deadly given half a chance. How many breaking balls in the 6 yard line has he turned in? It is not only his poaching skills that impress me though, if he is one and one with a keeper, it is as good as a goal. His turn of pace over 5 yards puts him in great positions and some of his finishes have been top class, goal against Rangers in the 4-2 defeat was my favourite. Hooper did lose form for a while and found himself on the bench, but he was professional about it, no complaints and he came back better for it. He now has 16 goals and will surpass his total from last year with ease.
3 Victor Wanyama
This one is a bit of egg in the face for myself. When we signed Victor I was baffled. We had Kayal, Ki, Ledley, Brown, Forest and Commons all on fire from the previous season. I was thinking “Why sign a 19 year old midfielder to sit on the bench? Surely someone from our under 19’s could do that.” I’m sorry Victor. Wanyama has been brilliant and would probably be higher on this list if he started the whole season. Strong as an ox, hard in the tackle, simply passes and now chipping in with a couple of goals. Hard to believe he is still only a teenager. To me Victor is a faster, stronger Neil Lennon. Every team needs a player like this and I think he will become a very important player for us.
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2 Fraser Forster
Get him signed. Fraser has been outstanding this year. He improved everything he needed to from last year. His kicking and ball handling are better though still need work. Frasers reflexes though are amazing. For such a big lad his movement is top notch, he gets down and is up again in a heartbeat, numerous double saves have been made because of this. His shot stopping is flawless as well. Fraser has single handedly saved us double figures in points this year. Penalty save at Hearts, heroics against Udinese in Italy and countless other top drawer saves have made him irreplaceable. It is so refreshing to be able to rely on a solid keeper.
1 James Forrest
This young man has been outstanding so far. Forrest is consistently one of our best performers, even when the team was in a slump he still put in a great shift. He sometimes took an ugly game were we looked ordinary and turned it around with a wee flash of brilliance. His direct running coupled with a great cross makes him very dangerous. Add to that his intelligent off the ball runs to open space for Hooper and Stokes as well as his finishing ability, it does not surprise me the EPL teams are sniffing around with potential multi million pound moves. James is another kid with a huge future in the game, let’s hope he stays in green and white for another few years.
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