Ange Postecoglou gives special praise to Celtic duo

Celtic’s 2-1 win over Hearts looked like a game that the Hoops probably would have ended up losing last season. And while they did make it much more difficult for themselves than they needed to, ultimately, it was an important victory and three points for Ange Postecoglou’s side, despite coming into it in the midst of difficult circumstances, with the club struggling with multiple injuries and availability issues.

The area that has been most affected as a result of these is Celtic’s midfield. The Hoops have several players missing in the middle of the park right now.

Tom Rogic is away on international duty for the Australian national team while Callum McGregor, David Turnbull and Yosuke Ideguchi are all out with injuries.

That has left Postecoglou with very few options to pick from but importantly, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley put in some brilliant performances for Celtic against Hearts despite arriving just this month. And as tweeted out by Sky Sports Scotland, the manager said after the game:

"“O’Riley came in a few days ago, I thought he was outstanding. Reo has had 70 minutes of football in the last month. It is brilliant.”"

Celtic duo praised by Postecoglou after impressive displays vs Hearts

It is safe to say that both O’Riley and Hatate deserve immense credit for how well they did against Hearts.

Hatate was absolutely superb in his debut for Celtic against Hibernian as well and then found himself on the scoresheet against Hearts.

On the other hand, O’Riley arrived at Celtic just a few days ago from MK Dons and normally, he probably would have gotten a lot more time to adjust to his new surroundings and teammates. But considering the lack of options that the Hoops have right now, he was put on the pitch against Hearts in a very difficult game and he did very well, even providing an assist on the day.

Thus, Celtic must be delighted with how well their two new signings have done till now and hopefully, they will continue to perform like this in the upcoming games as well.