Ange’s Support For O’Riley Is The Reason The Celtic Players Respect The Man So Much.

Last night, the media ran Ange’s comments on Matt O’Riley. I wrote about Matt earlier in the week, and how good it was to see him back doing what he does best in the team. Or at least what we think he does best.

But the manager … man oh man, his comments were excellent. He talked about a contribution that goes way beyond the sexy stuff, the goals and assists, and reminded us that there are times when we are all watching football the wrong way.

I have to say, that isn’t the case with Celtic fans as much as it once was.

Our support has become very sophisticated thanks to a handful of guys who write and talk about tactics and analytics and expand on our knowledge base. I love to write and talk about tactics and set ups and I like to do basic tactical analysis, but these guys are way ahead of anything I can do in that regard, guys like Alan Morrison and the like, who really know their stuff.

And what we’ve all learned from these guys is that you have to consider the role every player has in the team and how they perform in that role. It’s not even necessarily about what they do when they are on the ball.

95% of the good work a player does in a game happens off the ball. Is a defender blocking a pass? If a forward peels left and his marker follows him that creates the space for an attacking midfielder to exploit … that’s a simplistic example, but that’s the kind of stuff that more and more of our fans are beginning to understand.

Ange pointed out some salient details about Matt O’Riley.

Yes, he gets goals and yes he gets assists, but some of his best games were when he stepped up to take the place of Callum McGregor, an entirely different role that involves doing the dirty work of breaking up opposition moves, moving the ball from the back to the front, the simple act of marking and making crucial interceptions when someone is attempting a pass.

This is what Callum does magnificently every week and it’s why I was so pleased to see him win Player of the Year last season and why I think he’s got a good chance of winning it again in this campaign.

That’s not sexy stuff. It’s why analysts call that section of the pitch “the engine room.” It’s where the hard graft goes on. And yet that’s the stuff that powers the whole football machine at Celtic. Callum McGregor is the engineer, if you like, and it’s a hell of a thing to be asked to step into that job and do what he does … and Matt O’Riley did it superbly.

And Ange wanted us to know that, or more appropriately, to remember it.

“I keep telling the lads the most important opinion, the one that really counts, is the one within these walls. And Matt has had nothing but positive feedback from us,” he said. I think he’s shown sustained growth this year. It’s his second year playing at such a high level – 18 months, really, given we signed him halfway through last season. He has taken on some enormous challenges this year. He’s played Champions League football; he’s played a couple of different positions for us. I’m delighted that at the age of 22 what he’s achieved for us so far – and there is even more to come.”

This, right here, is why the players have such great respect for Ange.

This is how you run a dressing room, how you manage men. You don’t go in front of the media with a cup semi-final looming and tell the hacks that the squad has “taken (us) as far as it can.”

You treat them warmly. You back them. You support them through their lean spells.

You give them every encouragement.

That’s how they come through. That’s how Matt O’Riley has come through. We’ve had another glimpse at how Ange runs the show … and as ever what we’re seeing is a manager with many gifts, and who is the epitome of class.