Matt O'Riley reveals childlike Celtic approach behind sparkling scoring form as he lifts lid on what he has stopped doing

Matt O’Riley reckons he’s matured into one of the top men at Celtic because he is acting like a kid again.

The Hoops playmaker has been flying under Brendan Rodgers this season and scored another stunner in the weekend win at St Johnstone. O’Riley’s pearler – with his weaker right peg – made it seven goals for the season and he admitted it’s been child’s play so far this campaign.

The 23-year-old has always had an old head on young shoulders but he’s deliberately rolled things back to perform with the freedom of a nipper in the playground. O’Riley has been top of the class as he said: “People tend to put more pressure on you as you get older in life, for some reason. That’s just how it goes. When you are a kid of 14 or 15, you play very freely. That’s how I’m trying to play at the moment – to bring that side of young, childish playfulness into my game.

"Maybe last season I wouldn’t have even thought to swing my right foot at that. Now it’s just a case of being more free on the pitch which is nice.

“I was probably overthinking things more, up until I was 17, 18, 19 years-old. I think it was all done with good intentions, it was about standards and hard work, trying to get better from a young age. I was always dreaming from a young age. It’s not that the dreams have stopped but it’s about taking things as they come rather than overthinking things that are out of my control.”

The childlike approach is not just a switch O’Riley can flick. The Denmark international is one of the game’s deep thinkers and he puts in a lot of work off the pitch to work on the mental side of the game as well as the physical. Whether it’s meditation for the mind or pilates for the balance, O’Riley looks for every angle to get an advantage.

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