David Turnbull continued to produce the goods for Celtic against Aberdeen tonight, and unsurprisingly he was the toast of the Hoops supporters.
Turnbull was the difference-maker at Celtic Park this evening. His howitzer from around 25 yards out flew beyond Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis and into the bottom corner.
It was an absolute screamer from the man signed from Motherwell in the summer. Turnbull’s goal helped eat into Rangers’ lead at the top of the Premiership, with Celtic narrowing the gap to 15 points on their rivals.
On another night, the young midfielder could’ve had two or three. As well as his tremendous first-half effort, he had two more decent openings either side of the break.
This mainly came from Turnbull’s willingness to act as Celtic’s main runner beyond the strikers. His desire to get into the penalty area for cross-balls, in particular, led to a big opening 10 minutes into the second 45, but he could only fire straight at a Dons defender.
David Turnbull the difference as Celtic see off Aberdeen
Nevertheless, his impact was felt once again today. Stat experts WhoScored provided Turnbull with an overall rating of 7.54/10 – the highest-rated of anyone on the pitch.
But it’s his winner that was the main talking point tonight. It marked his sixth goal for the club and was the moment that had fans talking about building the club around him one again.
On Sunday against St Johnstone, Turnbull was moved to accommodate Tom Rogic. He proved tonight that should never be the case. It’s clear he enjoys playing in the midfield diamond that started this evening. With Callum McGregor, Ismaila Soro, and Ryan Christie, it creates a perfect blend of attributes in the midfield that suits David in particular.
It allows him to focus more on attacking the opposition penalty area, and that was evident tonight. So many of our counter-attacks led to the Celtic midfielder driving towards the penalty box.
His influence did wane the longer the second 45 went on. But he continued to show glimpses of class and remained one of our most important ball carriers regardless. So much so that, once again, he was the most influential midfielder on the pitch – outshining the likes of Lewis Ferguson.
His goalscoring display tonight was certainly the most positive aspect of the evening for supporters. Even if his influence lessened in the final quarter of the game, he still could’ve had a lot more than the one strike on another day.
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In other news, Neil Lennon explained why he made brought back Welsh, Soro, and Ajeti tonight.
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