Celtic have closed the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on a potentially pivotal Sunday.
The Hoops demolished Kilmarnock 4-0 at Parkhead, with Johnny Kenny breaking the deadlock, Kieran Tierney adding a second shortly after half time, before Daizen Maeda and then Arne Engels from the penalty spot added a little gloss to the scoreline late on.
With Hearts held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United over at Tynecastle, the Hoops go into the international break now just seven points adrift of the leaders, also with a game in hand.
For Martin O’Neill, since returning to the Parkhead dugout after two decades away, he has enjoyed back-to-back 4-0 Premiership wins, as well as dumping Rangers out of the League Cup semi-finals at Hampden; the less said about Thursday’s Europa League clash with Midtjylland the better!
In this victory, for however long the 73-year-old remains in caretaker charge, he learned that one Celtic player in particular can be counted on.
Will O’Neill still be at Celtic after the break?
After Sunday’s comfortable victory, O’Neill confirmed “I genuinely don’t know” if he will still be in charge for their next fixture, adding that if the board do appoint a permanent manager during the international break that it’ll “be absolutely fine by me”.
When Celtic do return to action later this month, they’ll travel to St Mirren before facing Feyenoord in Rotterdam in a repeat of the 1970 European Cup Final, but who will be in charge of those matches?
Well, could it be Wilfried Nancy?
He is currently the favourite to land the job, reportedly one of the club’s top targets alongside Kieran McKenna, and a move to Glasgow may have edged a little bit closer this weekend, after Nancy’s Columbus Crew were dumped out the MLS play-offs by rivals FC Cincinnati on Saturday, meaning their season is now over, which could expedite any appointment, if he is indeed who they want.
Irrespective of who is sat in the away dugout in Paisley in a fortnight, they surely can’t help but be impressed by the performance of one Celtic player in particular this weekend.
Celtic star enjoys his finest day of the season vs Kilmarnock
The Celtic medical staff may need to paraphrase Police Chief Brody from Jaws: we’re going to need a bigger treatment room!
The Hoops are already without Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, Jota and Kelechi Ịheanachọ, before Hampden hero Callum Osmand suffered a long-term injury in Herning on Thursday, while Marcelo Saracchi was then stretchered off in the first half against Kilmarnock.
This obviously is not ideal, but does of course present opportunities for others and, in the absence of Carter-Vickers, his compatriot Auston Trusty has really impressed.
The American centre-back put in an excellent display against Rangers in last weekend’s semi-final victory, but was possibly even more eye-catching this Sunday, with the statistics supporting this assertion.
Trusty stats vs Kilmarnock
Stats
Trusty
Match rank
Accurate passes
98
1st
Passing accuracy %
96%
3rd
Accurate long balls
9
2nd
Dribbles success %
100%
1st
Defensive actions
9
5th
Clearances
7
3rd
Interceptions
1
6th
Duels won
9
1st
Aerial duels won
6
1st
Touches
117
1st
SofaScore rating
8.4
3rd
As the table documents, the centre-half put in a colossal defensive display on Sunday, ranked first for duels as well as accurate passes and touches.
Meantime, when only Celtic players are considered, nobody accumulated more defensive actions, clearances or interceptions.
Glasgow World documented that he ‘continued his rich vein of form’, while noting that the 27-year-old appears to be the perfect man to fill a rather large Carter-Vickers-shaped void at the back.
The defender, who was named man of the match, was also labelled “composed, dominant and aggressive”, having been “immense” since Carter-Vickers suffered a long-term achilles injury against Sturm Graz.
As recognition of his form, Trusty has been recalled to the United States squad for their friendlies against Paraguay in Pennsylvania and then Uruguay in Florida next week.
Trusty has not played a single minute for the USMNT since November last year, but could well change that as Mauricio Pochettino continues to experiment ahead of the World Cup.
Back at club level, Celtic will need Trusty to remain fit, available and in form because, frankly, they don’t have any other options and, if a new manager is appointed in the next fortnight, he has really staked a claim to remain a key figure. This was undoubtedly his finest day of the campaign to date.
