Matt O'Riley reckons Kyogo Furuhashi could miss four open goals and still be smiling because he’s the nicest guy he’s met.
But the Parkhead midfielder says the graft that goes with such happiness sums up the entire dressing room perfectly – and helps the grinners be winners. Kyogo is the Hoops’ happy assassin. His infectious personality is coupled with a stylish 49-goal haul since arriving in Glasgow. That would’ve risen to the half century had the Asian ace not squandered a penalty opportunity at Kilmarnock.
With a Rugby Park goal already in the bag to move onto the brink of the 50, Kyogo had an ideal chance from 12 yards to claim the landmark. The subsequent miss was uncharacteristic but the refusal to let it get him down was not. O’Riley said: “He’s probably the nicest man I’ve ever met. That guy could miss four open goals in a game and still be smiling, which I find incredible. It shows the kind of guy he is and it’s really nice to have someone like that in your team.
“He knows he’s already got... I don’t know how many goals, so I don’t think he’s too fussed about missing one. It’s not just on the pitch with what you see, he’s genuinely the nicest man I’ve met. Regardless of whether they miss or score, they’re still going to work hard.”
O’Riley was speaking from Rugby Park experience on his graft comment. During that opening-period blitz in Ayrshire when Celtic were dominant, the desire to do the dirty jobs shone through. At one point, Kyogo ran back the length of the pitch to make a last-gasp intervention, snuff out a rare threat and get the ball safely back to Joe Hart.
O’Riley smiled at that recollection and he said: “I remember it perfectly because I gave away the ball and he covered me nicely! That shows the character of everyone in our team.
“It doesn’t matter who makes a mistake, someone else is going to be there to rectify it. I think we’ve shown that across the course of the season.
“It showed last week as well. It wasn’t our most fluid performance [against Rangers] but we gave everything and that was enough to get us over the line.”
That comes from a perfect harmony both on and off the pitch and O’Riley is an integral part of the unit. Nationalities and cultures have combined seamlessly with both regular starters and lesser-sighted stars all playing roles equally as important as each other.
Players such as Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata were seamless introductions to the line-up at Rugby Park and O’Riley said: “That just shows the depth of our squad. Yuki and Tomoki have come in from another country and culture and have settled in really quickly.
“And it helps that they are both genuinely very nice people as well, so they’ve settled into our culture very easily. They are both really making an effort to speak English with us which definitely helps.
“On the pitch you can see they are enjoying themselves. Yuki probably hasn’t played as much as he wants to but when he’s been asked he’s performed really well.
“We have got a lot of different nationalities in that team, with a nice blend of Japanese and pure Scottish guys who keep it, well, Scottish! It’s quite unique. It’s a nice balance. There are no hard feelings if someone plays over you. We’re still all going to chat and be friends.
“I don’t really find it challenging in that sense because they are all so nice. I don’t think that hinders us. It’s probably a benefit. Competition, in my opinion, always helps you play better.
“Last season personally I had that with Tom (Rogic) and to be able to compete with and also have the respect of someone like that definitely makes you play better.
“I’ve got that this season, with so many good midfield players and the higher the level each one of us can play, then it will continue to push the other players.”
In the main, Celtic have been smooth as they move closer to a Treble and it was O’Riley who took the main scoring honours at Killie. Having managed just a couple of goals in 43 appearances prior to the game, he doubled his campaign tally with a couple of sublime finishes.
O’Riley said: “It took me a long time but when that first goal went in there was a sense of relief and now you’ll start to see a bit more effortlessness in my performances because I have got a freer mind, which always helps.”
In fairness to O’Riley, there was a sustained period of the season when his scoring chances were lessened due to operating in a deeper role. Callum McGregor’s pre-World Cup injury left a gaping void but the former MK Dons man filled it with aplomb.
Now he’s back to a more advanced role and, asked if it was hard to revert back, he said: “Probably, yes. The initial transition took a bit of time, naturally, but I had got quite comfortable playing in the deeper role by the end of it.
“It probably took me a bit of time to acclimate to that at the start, it took me three or four games to really start feeling comfortable. And it was probably the same when I went back up into the eight position. But now I’m feeling good.
“I enjoy playing football regardless of where I’m playing, so it’s not the end of the world. It’s good to have different positions in your toolbox. If I’m able to play both going forward, it helps the team massively.”
