Ange Postecoglou quipped that Callum McGregor was a bit rusty after Celtic's 1-0 victory over Aberdeen today.
The skipper came back into the side after two months out on the sidelines through injury.
The Scotland international showed his worth with a superb strike late in the game to seal an important three-points for the Scottish champions.
And Postecoglou was full of praise for his captain.
He said: "We had some good chances that usually we'd put away but through that whole sort of process, we never lost or wavered from our approach and it was great for the skipper to step up. What a great way for him to come back into the team.
"You'll be speaking about him after the game as well now, yeah. We did awfully well without him but he's a fantastic footballer. He makes our team better, absolutely.
"I was super happy to get him back in the side and he got what he deserved.
"I thought he was really important for us today, he dictated to play in the middle of the park and made sure we didn't get too anxious about scoring, biding our time and then a great finish.
"He's a bit rusty to be fair. But that's who Callum is, you know? He's such an important part of our team and he's just a fantastic footballer.
"We needed that today because it's easy for me to sit here and say we've got to stick to the process and play our football but when you're out there and you're so dominant and you haven't scored it's easy to get anxious.
"But Cal kept the foot on the accelerator just the right amount. We accelerated where we needed to and the other times we just moved the ball around and I think they got really tired towards the end as well.
"You can see them all going down which, again, gives us a little bit more space."
On the game itself, the Australian admits he couldn't remember a more dominant performance from his side.
He added: "I can't remember a game where we were so dominant and we probably should've won a lot more comfortably. But it's a difficult place to come to and, yeah, I thought we were totally in control although obviously we needed the goal.
"It came late but that's not unusual for us and credit to the lads - just really disciplined in our approach, never got frustrated and got the just rewards."
