It’s fair to say that Celtic started this season slowly. They were knocked out of the Champions League at the qualifying stage and had dropped points in their first three away games in the Scottish Premiership.

But in the champions last two outings we’ve seen a significant improvement as they’ve secured impressive wins over St Johnstone and Hibs, scoring ten goals in the process.

James Forrest was the star against the Saints as he bagged four goals in the 6-0 away win. Record signing Odsonne Edouard has managed to grab three in the wins over St Johnstone and Hibs.

For me, a big reason for The Hoops upturn in form has been the performances of Australian midfielder Tom Rogic.

Rogic has been a key performer for a while now but he wasn’t at his best earlier in the campaign. That was probably due to a lack of a significant preseason after Tom’s efforts at this summer’s World Cup with The Socceroos.

His passing display in Perth a few weeks back was sublime. He weighed each pass to perfection as he had a hand in three of Celtic’s goals. His link-up play with Forrest was particularly strong and the Aussie seemed to carve open The Saints with each superb through ball he instigated.

Another great attribute that Tom possesses is his ability to find pockets of space in the opposition’s half. He doesn’t run around like a headless chicken chasing after the ball. He has the intelligence to sit back and wait, look for free areas and also keep an eye out on where teammates are.

The twenty-five year old is also very handy in-front of goal too. The international attacking midfielder has banged in 38 goals in 148 appearances for Celtic.

Rogic is usually a player for the big games and his latest strike came in The Hoops recent win over Neil Lennon’s Hibs. He grabbed the opener after playing a neat one two with James Forrest on the edge of The Hibees penalty area before curling his left footed shot expertly beyond Hibs goalie Adam Bogdan.

Tom Rogic then followed that up with another inch perfect through ball for fellow midfielder Olivier Ntcham to double The Hoops lead.

That’s three assists and a goal in Rogic’s last two appearances and I don’t think it’s by coincidence that he’s got his attacking mojo back and suddenly Celtic are scoring for fun again. When he’s on form he’s almost unplayable as he finds space, can supply killer one touch passes and can score fantastic goals from distance.

Towards the end of last season, Tom stated that Brendan Rodgers was a main reason for his scintillating performances:

“Obviously in the last couple years we’ve been very successful and the manager has been a big part of that,”

“I think I’ve certainly played my best football under this manager.”

“Working under him is very intense, it’s very challenging,” 

“Every day is a new opportunity to learn and become better as a person and as a player as well. I feel as though I’m in the right place to keep progressing.”

Celtic sold Stuart Armstrong in the summer but his departure wasn’t met with much displeasure from the Parkhead support. They were more than happy losing Armstrong, knowing that Tom Rogic had penned a new five year deal to stay with the club.

The Aussie playmaker is key when it comes to Celtic’s link up play in the attacking areas. He’s that player, along with Callum McGregor, that can help the forwards and that can score vital goals or create chances out of nothing.

If he continues to pull the strings, then I fully expect Celtic to continue with the recent winning run!

Posted on October 22nd, 2018 by scott
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