“Man playing against boys”; Celtic man Kris Ajer on a different level vs St Mirren

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There weren’t many standouts for the most part in Paisley this evening for Celtic, but Kristoffer Ajer was almost faultless against St Mirren.

Ajer was tasked with being the experienced head alongside youngster Stephen Welsh. It resulted in Celtic securing their second clean sheet in four games. The new centre-back duo impressed at Kilmarnock before playing well for long spells against Motherwell on Saturday.

Tonight’s 4-0 win, again, was built on the solidity of the backline. So much so that Scott Bain only had one save to make throughout. That came from a Shane Duffy error.

Much of this dominance, once again, was down to the display of Norwegian international Ajer. The former Start man was up against the powerful Jonathan Obika.

The bulky St Mirren front-man got absolutely no joy against his opposite man tonight. Big Kris was quick with his reactions and clean in the challenge for the most part. It was this efficiency that helped the Hoops manage plenty of turnovers to stop St Mirren from getting into dangerous territory.

Celtic can thank Kristoffer Ajer for dominance over St Mirren

The only real blips from him came in the second half after giving away a couple of free-kicks. Nothing would come of them, however.

But what makes the Norwegian so special is his ability to drive forward. It was these runs that helped lead to some of our clearest openings. Stat experts WhoScored clocked him as having a match-rating of 7.50/10. For me, even that feels harsh.

You couldn’t complain about the decision-making from the towering centre-back either. He once again knew when to take no chances and when to play it out from the back. With yet another match in which his distribution was solid, he has a real claim to be considered the man-of-the-match.

And it was essential he showed up tonight. These fine displays are massively helpful for Welsh’s integration into the first-team. Having a high-quality, reliable, and versatile head alongside him in Ajer has undoubtedly been beneficial for the Lennoxtown youngster. Hopefully Welsh’s injury tonight is nothing serious.

And it’s fair to say the Celtic supporters were also pleased with what Ajer brought to the table tonight:

https://twitter.com/MatthewMcG_67/status/1359612108992876544

https://twitter.com/Seanicci/status/1359605726331736073

In other news, Lennon has discussed Hatem Elhamed’s exit in a pre-match interview with the BBC.