Brendan Rodgers looked at Matt O’Riley’s numbers and felt they simply didn’t add up.
But the boss is now delighted to see his wonderful footballer add goalscoring firepower to his panache to aid his latest development of Celtic. And O’Riley reckons it’s starting to flow because he’s stopped trying too hard to make it happen. The former MK Dons ace was a massive contributor during the Ange Postecoglou reign. Over 18 months, O’Riley played incisive passes to make things happen, he played the holding role in the absence of skipper Callum McGregor and his dead-ball delivery was lethal. However, when Rodgers returned to the club and looked at the midfielder’s stats in terms of goals, they just didn’t read as he thought they should.
O’Riley needed 34 games to get off mark last season. He managed just four goals overall in 52 club appearances. The manager gave his assessment and the reaction has been instant. O’Riley backed an opening-day strike against Ross County with his second in two Premiership outings in the victory at Aberdeen. Rodgers assessed that sharp scoring start as he said: “When I looked at his numbers and everything else, I think I said to him you need to score more goals as he didn’t do it enough.
“He was a bit like Jamesy Forrest when I first came into the club. He didn’t score enough for the talent they had and I was looking at Matt from last season and his first goal was in [February].
“You can’t have that talent and be waiting that long. But it is all about arriving in the areas and finding composure to finish. I really like him, his build up play is good, he takes the ball. He needs to work on his pressing and intensity, but he is a wonderful footballer and he is a good guy as well.”
O’Riley himself has
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