Matt O’Riley delivers verdict on Celtic’s performance vs Aberdeen; states one obvious fact

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Celtic’s performance against Aberdeen, despite getting off to a slow start, was one that still delivered a huge result.

Going to Pittodrie is always a tough ask, but under Barry Robson, The Dons look like a more solid and physical unit.

And they certainly showed that against Celtic on Sunday. However, despite Robson’s men pulling back from a goal down, Celtic never really looked like losing a grip of the game. And that was the view of Hoops midfielder, Matt O’Riley,

The 22-year-old was asked in yesterday’s press conference if the win over Aberdeen was a warning to the rest of the league as the team could have won by more goals.

O’Riley said [Celtic YouTube], “Yeah because I don’t think we came off the pitch feeling like we played great but at the same time I think we were comfortable overall.

“I mean they had a bit of pressure within the game but they never really threatened our goal too much.

“I think we were quite comfortable which is positive in terms of that stability throughout the team. I’m not going to speak too much on the rest of the teams in the league but I think we’re in a good place.”

It wasn’t easy but Aberdeen never really threatened Celtic

O’Riley is spot on. Aberdeen didn’t threaten us much. Yes, there were times in the match were we didn’t do ourselves too many favours. And despite that, we still won the game by two clear goals.

Aberdeen did make it tough with their direct style and physicality but in the end, all they had to show for it was two shots on target, one goal and zero points.

Celtic also had 67% of the possession at Pittodrie and although sometimes we were wasteful with it, we still had control of the game. Especially in the second half.

Look, I’m not knocking Aberdeen here. It was a tough match. All I’m saying is that the reaction to the Pittodrie side’s performance, although much improved from previous seasons, is in my opinion, slightly over the top.

The best thing about this though is that Celtic are going to get better. As the team get used to Brendan Rodgers’ style and each other, when they really start to gel, they will be very tough to stop.

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