For all of the positives today, one of them appears to have gone unnoticed in Albian Ajeti’s demeanour on the Fir Park turf.
The Swiss forward played the majority of Celtic’s 4-1 win in North Lanarkshire against the Steelmen. He was also crucial to the first two goals as he intercepted for the first before his movement allowed Mohamed Elyounoussi the space to slot home number two.
However, unfortunately, Neil Lennon decided his time was up in the final 20 minutes as he failed to get on the scoresheet himself. Ajeti was visibly frustrated once again, which mirrored his reaction to being subbed in other matches against the likes of Aberdeen and Lille respectively.
In addition to that, Ajeti looked furious at half-time. He was in Elyounoussi’s ear about a particular move towards the end of the first half that he clearly wasn’t pleased with. Whether it be that he felt he could’ve had a good chance to score or not, it was great to see.
The reason? This isn’t the signs of a trouble-maker or a hothead. No, Ajeti is showing all of the traits of a perfectionist.
If he was shooting when he should be passing and keeping the ball instead of looking to find his team-mates – that’s when you have a concern. But so far Ajeti isn’t channeling his frustration in a negative way. On the contrary in fact.
Ajeti knows how to channel frustration
Ajeti’s frustration is showing in a positive fashion. He’s tirelessly chasing everything down in the final third and is determined to open up the opposition. Sure, there’s a hunger there to get on the scoresheet himself – it would be worrying if that wasn’t the case given he’s a striker. But he’s also ensuring he makes the best decisions he can in the final third to get those chances to arrive.
It didn’t happen today, but if he keeps up this tenacity in the coming weeks, the goals will easily come for him. The important thing is he’s using his drive and determination to get Celtic on the front-foot, and his influence was felt at Fir Park this afternoon.
For a club thats players have suffered criticism for their application – that’s something Ajeti shows no shortage of. Instead, he’s always at the heart of everything we do when he’s on the pitch.
His hunger, considering the confidence crisis Celtic are in at the moment, is brilliant to see as a supporter. We need more perfectionist characters like that shining through. Seeing him angry with something when we’re 2-0 and 3-1 up in games is what being a winner is all about.
Hopefully, he does indeed get a goal in the coming games as he looks to get his own name back on the scoresheet.
In other news, Moi Elyounoussi had to bat away yet another question on phone-gate from Sky Sports.
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