Giorgos Giakoumakis has outlined the brilliant Celtic squad unity that was shown after his disappointing penalty miss against Livingston back in October.
Giakoumakis had a difficult start to life at Celtic in the first half of the season, and it spiralled out of control after his miss against Livi at Celtic Park. With a chance to go top of the Premiership, the big Greek fired a tame penalty that was easily saved by Max Stryjek. He then missed a sitter minutes later as the Celtic support grew frustrated with his lack of an impact.
Injury woes would then set him back further before his blistering run of form in 2022. However, confidence was at an all-time low after his penalty miss.
The big striker has been reflecting on that moment recently after banging home a hattrick against Dundee on Sunday. And as he did so, he discussed the impact the squad had as they rallied round him.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Giakoumakis said: “They helped me a lot. Even after that missed penalty, they all came to me and said it was fine and we would recover the points. We are not kids. We have to make our mentality stronger ourselves.
“It was difficult at the start. But from these difficulties, you grow up. You become much stronger mentally and it was something, in the end, that really helped me a lot. For me it doesn’t matter how I lost the first six months here. It is what it is and I cannot change it.
“Of course, it didn’t make me happy, it was really difficult for me. But now I can say that I am back with the squad, and ready for more chances and more success.”
Giorgos Giakoumakis in a much better place as results improve
Credit to the big Greek because he’s in a much better place than he was back in late 2021. There was no denying the frustration the Celtic support had with his lack of impact. It was justifiable to an extent.
You have to remember that we were largely reliant on Kyogo Furuhashi’s exploits in the first half of the campaign. At times when he was sidelined, we were operating without a recognisable striker. Giakoumakis being unavailable or failing to perform when on the pitch was hugely frustrating. We had enough issues outside of that to concern ourselves with.
Now, however, he’s arguably our number 1 when Kyogo is out of action. He’s already forced himself ahead of Daizen Maeda and it’s clear that Albian Ajeti has no future here at Parkhead. With 6 goals to his name already in 2022 and some terrific individual performances in big games, he’s turning things around beautifully.
Giakoumakis looks much more rounded than he did earlier this season. His control is much better whilst he’s become a lot more of a goal threat in and around the penalty area.
But it’s no surprise he’s adding goals to his game the more minutes he plays for us. It’s a timely reminder that a degree of patience is required when it comes to integrating new players. We shouldn’t be too quick to judge, as many of us were with Giajoumakis.
Hopefully, he continues that fine form in Thursday’s trip to Bodo/Glimt.
In other news, Report: The latest on when VAR is coming to Scottish football and where Celtic stand
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