Kris Boyd turned up at Tynecastle yesterday expecting Celtic to be in for a tough afternoon up against a side fashioned by Steven Naismith.
Traditionally it is a tough venue to go to, 12 months ago Ange Postecoglou’s side edged it in a 4-3 thriller dominated by VAR calls, the Australian lost at Tynecastle in his first domestic match with a 4-0 defeat in 2017 the biggest domestic defeat suffered by Brendan Rodgers.
On Friday Matt O’Riley picked up the SPFL Player of the Month Award for September, yesterday he put down a marker for the October contest with a dominating performance topped off by an exquisite finish for Celtic’s opening goal. Suddenly an uphill task for Hearts became near impossible.
?? “O’Riley will be one of the next players to go for big money… You could sit and watch him play football all day!
Kris Boyd praises Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley, who was awarded man-of-the-match in the 4-1 win over Hearts ? pic.twitter.com/c4vXQfi3Rn
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 22, 2023
He’s added goals. Don’t underestimate how hard that finish is. You could sit and watch him all day. He glides across the pitch. He’s a top class player. He was outstanding today.
Celtic can stretch their lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership to 10 points away to Hibs on Saturday but the match won’t be shown on Sky Sports.
Before that O’Riley gets another crack at the biggest challenge of all with Atletico Madrid visiting Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
I thought Hatate was outstanding as well…apart from the penalty…We’re blessed to have these two playing in the Hoops.
Boyd usually talks ballocks – but credit to him on this rare piece of honesty though…
It won’t go down well with the swallow swallow brigade though !
Young Matt is well on course to becoming the most profitable footballer we might have ever had imo, even surpassing the profit made upon KT?
Now there still remains competition for the 25M profit tag currently within the squad, and some very decent sign’s of potential emerging talent to keep the conveyor belt moving forward also.
How long can we be able to keep hold of Matt?
Going to become even harder upon current form, and a model professional on and off the park also.
Would love for him to stay with us long term, but with the amount of money within the game, that remains a longshot for ourselves sadly.
Tend to enjoy such talented players all the while we have them wearing the hoops, just a shame we remain as a club that can’t compete with the financial opportunities that come the way for talented players such as matt?
Would love Matt to follow the same career path as Calmac took, never know he might just do so, even if a longshot imo.
Cal Mac spoke yesterday about the condition Matt O,Riley came back in after the summer break, it’s a pity Leigh Griffiths didn’t look after himself in the same way as he was a rare striker and we could have got more time out of him and he could have extended his career. His loss.
A great footballer, who has had to go backwards in his career (Fulham to MK Dons) to progress. An outstanding player who has just got better and better since he arrived.
Not only that, but his humility, lack of arrogance and desire to be a real team player are also admirable qualities. I guess that comes with not having it all handed on a plate to him and having to take that step back and do it the hard way.
Doubt he will be a career Celt like CalMac or Forrest, but I will enjoy watching him play while he’s here and wish him well, if he does leave. No doubt that blow will be softened by quite a few million quid for the club.