FOR the last seven days, Kieran Tierney has been studiously avoiding eye contact on the streets of his home town.
But after eight days of refereeing controversies, innuendo and emotional outpourings, so emphatic was Celtic’s 5-1 Ladbrokes Premiership victory against Motherwell at Celtic Park in the final instalment of this epic three-part series on Saturday that the 19-year-old could walk tall again this weekend.
The biggest home win of Celtic’s season left little room for any argument.
“I have been keeping the head down!” joked the 19-year-old. “No, I took a bit of abuse at Fir Park, but other than that, it has been good and Saturday was a great result. I will be holding my head high in Motherwell now. There are no excuses. We have gone out there and beaten them comfortably. It’s credit to us because we have played so many games already and have a lot coming up.”
First, of these, is the small matter of Anderlecht on Tuesday night, a match which has the promise of Europa League play beyond Christmas resting upon it. Celtic will surely be too good to avoid the three-goal defeat which would see the Belgians pip them to Group B’s Europa League spot, but these occasions have been known to be fraught, particularly as Brendan Rodgers tends to attack these matches head on. “We want to go out and win every single game,” says Tierney. “This will be a high-pressure game for both teams, but it is another challenge and another Champions League night at Celtic Park. That’s what the players love.”
As emphatic as the win was, Saturday wasn’t uniformly a good news day for Celtic supporters. Confirmation the club would be without the services of Patrick Roberts for up to three months – he must already be rated doubtful for the club’s last 32 Europa League tie in the event they make it – with a hamstring tear was a bombshell for those such as Tierney who know the player best. Roberts was back in Manchester this weekend having the extent of the injury assessed and the likes of Tierney went off in the night on Saturday pledging to rally round their friend and help him return stronger than ever.
“I have been there myself - being told you will be out for a few months is not easy to take, especially when you have just come back,” said the Scotland full back. “But that is what happens in football and he knows that. He is obviously disappointed but I’m sure he will come back stronger than ever. I’ll do my best to help him through it. When I was out, I had to work on my upper body – just to get better as an all-round player. I’m sure he will do similar because his work ethic is brilliant. You will see that when he comes back.”
Celtic being Celtic, one man’s misfortune is merely another’s opportunity, and the two men most likely to profit in terms of first team play from the injury, James Forrest and Jonny Hayes, looked in excellent fettle on Saturday. Forrest, now into double figures for the season, emerged from the bench to steer in two of the early placed finishes, one left foot and one right, which are fast becoming his trademark, while Hayes delivered arguably his most effective performance in a Celtic jersey. Having played against either or both most days at training, no-one knows better than Tierney what the paid have to offer.
“Jonny is a great player and is one of the best people to have in the squad because he is always happy,” said Tierney. “He is never down or negative and you need that, especially if he is not playing every week. I used to hate playing against him when he was at Aberdeen.
“Ever since I started training with the first team, James has been brilliant. He is so hard to play against in training. He has incredible fitness to get forward and back for a whole 90 minutes. And I know myself that he is very hard to stop when he is running at you because he can go inside or outside. Defenders don’t like that at all. Is he due a song? Aye, but I think there is actually is one for him. It doesn’t get sung a lot but I’m sure it will come back.”
The real headline maker on Saturday, though, was Odsonne Edouard, the 19-year-old Frenchman on-loan from PSG who came in from the cold to register his first senior hat-trick. “Odsonne was brilliant,” said Tierney. “He was up against physical centre-backs and I think he actually got the better of them physically. He has obviously had limited chances but he is still young and it just shows the depth we have in the squad.”
Motherwell - clearly wearied by attempting to keep up with the Scottish champions - can only dream of such resources. But they have proved they are in the mix to be best of the rest. “If every single player is at it and are giving 110 percent we’ve got a chance of getting a result against teams like Celtic,” said stand-in skipper Peter Hartley. “But this was a game too far.”
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