Greg Taylor reckons returning skipper Callum McGregor led by example at Pittodrie and showed why he is simply irreplaceable at Celtic. The captain has been out with a knee injury which he suffered in the Champions League defeat to Red Bull Leipzig in October.
It was a frustrating time for McGregor as he cooled his heels but he worked hard with the physios to get back for the Premiership restart. The 29-year-old managed to get some game time in during the break and walked back into the Celtic midfield for the weekend trip to third-placed Aberdeen.
It should have been one of their tougher challenges of the season but Celtic completely dominated, with McGregor pulling the strings. Ange Postecoglou ’s side had to remain patient and were rewarded when the skipper netted three minutes from the end of normal time. The only thing surprising was the final scoreline was only 1-0. Taylor said: “It is massive to have the captain back and to get the winning goal and the man-of-the-match award on his first game after injury is not a bad return.
“Fair play to Cal, he’s worked ever so hard on his rehab and he’s come back the same way he started the season. It’s not easy to come back after 10 weeks out. A guy like Cal thrives on playing and he regularly plays 50 or 60 games a season.
“You know how hard he would find being on the sidelines and looking on. It’s important to realise the boys who played when he was out put in such a massive shift because Cal is irreplaceable for us.
“It was unbelievable from them but Saturday was about Cal and the team and he was superb. It’s brilliant to have him back. Hopefully he can stay fit for the rest of the season.”
Postecoglou believes Scotland star McGregor is so influential that when he was out it took several players to unite and fill the void. Taylor said: “Yes, exactly. That’s why the manager touched on it. It’s not just one player that could fill the role that Cal has because he’s so vital to us.
“The whole game goes through him, he breaks up play, he creates chances and scores. It’s such a vital time in the season for him to come back.”
The left-back also knows that McGregor inspires everybody at Celtic, on and off the park. He said: “Yes, and that speaks volumes for the player and the man that he is.
“He’s not just a superb player but he makes everyone around him better and that’s an unbelievable quality for an individual to have in a team game. We had a break and a good strong week in Portugal and that’s probably helped Callum reintegrate with the group.
“You don’t ever want to be injured but having that wee break before we came back has probably helped him and he will be the first to say that.”
Celtic went into the break nine points clear and managed to maintain that at the weekend. Rangers had put the pressure on with Thursday’s win over Hibs but Taylor has claimed Celts are only looking at themselves and if they do their jobs then results will take care of themselves. “I think more importantly we wanted to play well and play our football straight away,” the star claimed.
“That’s how we judge ourselves. Results will take care of themselves if we do that. We stuck to our philosophy, stuck to our football and we went down the road with a strong performance and three points.
“Every game is so important but you know around this period of time there are so many games and we wanted to put on a strong performance for the fans who travelled up to Aberdeen and cheered us from minute one to 90. It was good for them to go home having seen a win.”
Taylor was surprised with the way Aberdeen tried to shut up shop but reckoned Celtic had to stick to their own gameplan, which eventually came good. He said: “If I’m honest we expected them to come out and have more of a go. But every team has their belief on how they can get a result against us so fair play to them.
“They will probably feel because the game went on so long at 0-0 that they were hard done by. But if we analyse the performance they will realise there was only one team ever going to win the game.
“I don’t know what the possession stats were but we dominated the ball and the chances. I think it would have been pretty harsh if we had not come away with the three points.”
Taylor knew it was about Celtic doing the right things and keeping their foot on the pedal because that is the Postecoglou way. The former Kilmarnock player said: “We have a strong philosophy, a strong way of playing that we believe will give us success.
“It’s just a matter of sticking to it. Even if we had not got the goal I think the manager said himself he would have been pretty pleased with our performance. Large parts of what he is looking for were there apart from creating that big chance or getting a goal. I’m glad we got the goal but the performance was good.”
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