The Flag Day opening win for Celtic over Ross County was literally a game of two halves, in the first half!
In the opening 20 minutes, Celtic struggled to get going but when they did, the Hoops hit three goals in fifteen minutes to effectively end the match as a contest.
To be fair to the Celtic players, the struggle to get going in the early stages of the match is understandable. Firstly, there will be an element of nerves attached to the game.
It was a huge occasion, the first game under the new manager and a new system the players had to adopt. The team would have been desperate to get off to a quick start as well so it’s not surprising there were teething issues
When it going, the new system was very effective on Saturday and Matt O’Riley has explained how Kyogo’s latest role within that is benefiting him and the Celtic midfield.
O’Riley said [Scottish Daily Mail, The Verdict print edition pull out page 3] “It’s an adaptation to our game. Sometimes Kyogo dropping deeper allows me and the higher midfielder and wingers to run in a little bit.
“It causes teams problems and you saw it happen in the first half when David Turnbull got in as well. It just adds a different element to our game.”
Kyogo’s attacking threat has just got better under Brendan Rodgers
The amazing thing about Kyogo is that he was already a dangerous striker before Brendan Rodgers implemented this tweak to the front line.
The Japanese striker is a thorn in the side of every SPFL defender with his constant movement and intense pressing. We witnessed this in the friendly against Wolves in preseason in how he fashioned the opening goal against the English Premier League side.
But now his game has been adapted to drop deeper to allow players like O’Riley and Turnbull to venture further forward, it seems that Rodgers has turned what was already a very effective weapon up front into a more dangerous threat in the final third.
And to think, the amount of space that Kyogo could open up for players like Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda, Celtic will have the opportunity to score a frightening amount of goals this season.
With the first game out of the way, a trip to Aberdeen beckons. It won’t be an easy fixture to negotiate at the weekend but if we continue to play how we finished off the first half against Ross County, Barry Robson’s men will be in for a tough time at Pittodrie.
In other news, Shades of 2016 as Brendan Rodgers explains key Celtic decision vs Ross County
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