In normal circumstances Matt O’Riley would be entitled to spit the dummy after being relegated to the bench following his outstanding display in the Glasgow derby.
The former MK Dons midfielder had to contend with a half hour run out at Motherwell- getting his first chance to see the near-legend that is Tom Rogic dominated the Fir Park side while notching two outstanding goals.
On Wednesday night it was role reversal as Rogic dropped to the bench as O’Riley scored his first Celtic goal in a bizarre match at Aberdeen that took a lot more out of Ange Postecoglou’s squad than seemed likely.
It is less than a month since O’Riley was turning out for MK Dons in League One but the 21-year-old has quickly adapted to the demands of his new club.
Speaking to the Daily Record he admitted:
We have a really strong squad now so in terms of rotation it is going to be really important. We have so many games coming up that everyone genuinely needs to be ready because 10 games in a month.
It is hard to play every game and play at your maximum potential so in that sense you really need to utilise the squad as much as possible. Me and Jota came in the other day and helped out and that’s all we can do.
Back in November when Rogic was out injured Postecoglou mentioned that getting adequate back up for his fellow Australian was a priority, not many Celtic fans anticipated bringing that sort of quality in for just £1.5m.
This lad plays and looks a very good player settled in very well going to be a very good buy.
A good addition. Never going to be a Rogic type that can split a defence or beat 3 men for fun but at least we have an adequate fill in when Rogic gets injured again.