THE movement of Kyogo has left many a defender dizzy since he burst onto the scene at Celtic last season, but his speed is such that it is often difficult even for his own teammates to keep up with him.
David Turnbull linked brilliantly with the striker on Saturday night for two of Celtic’s goals against Rapid Vienna, the midfielder finishing a lovely first-time cross from his forward before turning provider for Kyogo to slide the ball home from inside the box.
Turnbull has revealed though that it has been something of an education for him trying to simply predict where Kyogo might go next, but their understanding is building the more they play together, and he is sure the combination between the pair can be a fruitful one for Celtic in the coming season.
“I played with him all of last season and I love playing alongside him,” Turnbull said.
“We had a good partnership then and against Rapid we linked up for two of the goals.
“He’s a joy to play with. It’s great to know that he will make the runs in behind and he can find me as well.
“I think just his movement and his runs and behind are brilliant. Sometimes he’s even one step ahead I feel, and you can’t get the ball through to him.
“If you play it early though he’s always onside and ready to be there.”
On a personal level, Turnbull himself is looking to cement his place back in Ange Postecoglou’s starting XI after a hamstring injury disrupted the second half of the last campaign.
Postecoglou relied heavily on Turnbull in the first part of the season before adding attacking reinforcements in the January window, but even with that added competition for places, the former Motherwell man is backing himself to make a regular impact.
“I feel you need to do your best to step up every game and every week you need to keep trying to improve, whether that is in training or on the pitch during the games,” he said.
“Everybody is fighting for that place in the team, so you need to do your best every game and that’s what I’m going to try to do.
“I want to improve and I feel I’m improving every week and in every game. That’s what I want to do and I feel I’m bringing a lot to the team.
“Hopefully I can bring more goals and more assists, whatever it is, and defensively work as hard as I can.
“I just try to contribute to the team, and if that’s scoring or creating goals or whatever, it’s just about doing my best for the team and if they come along then I’m happy with that.”
One thing that Turnbull has certainly learned since making the move to Celtic is that cut-throat competition comes with the territory, and it is a vital part of Postecoglou’s plan to ready the side for the challenge of Champions League group stage football.
“I think we can take it on another step,” he said. “We’ve obviously got Champions League football this year to look forward to and doing our best in the league. We’ll be looking to do that, as we did last season, and just perform better and better in each game.
“It’s as strong as the squad has been. We’ve seen that this pre-season. We had two teams in the two forty-fives against Rapid and everybody is ready to make their mark.
“It’s good for everybody in the team to have that competition and it’s going to be tough for everybody.
“I think it will push up the level again. Boys will step up the standards in training, and on the pitch and off the pitch the boys will be doing everything they can to get into the team.
“It’s great for everyone and for the manager, it will be tough for him to pick.
“It will be great [to be playing in the Champions League]. I think it’s everybody’s dream to play in the Champions League.
“Going straight into the group stages will be a very hard challenge, but all the boys are really looking forward to it and I can’t wait.”
In the immediate future, Turnbull and his teammates will look to take their pre-season preparations up another notch when they come up against Banik Ostrava tomorrow night, with a sell-out crowd of 15,000 expected for a match to mark their centenary.
“We’re feeling good,” he said. “It’s been a good pre-season camp over here.
“The facilities are great and we’ve been working hard every day.
“We obviously had the first game the other night and then Rapid, and both have gone well, so we’re looking forward to the games coming up.
“For fitness, I would say it maybe is [better not to have early qualifiers], because we can have a lot more friendlies and boys can get minutes in their legs.
“We’re looking forward to the first game of the season, and I think we’ll be in a better place.”
