MATT O’RILEY is refusing to set any goal targets after maintaining his place at the top of the Premiership scoring charts with a fine early strike against Hearts, with the midfielder saying his upturn in productivity in front of goal is a natural by-product of his focus on overall improvement.
It has been a while since O’Riley could have been described as a goal machine, with the modest 22-year-old admitting that his last comparable hot streak came during his youth career, but he has now hit six for the campaign – two more than his entire tally for last season.
He is hoping to keep that run going, but he says that as long as he is doing everything he can to get the best from himself then the goals will continue to flow.
“When I was younger coming through the Fulham academy, I used to score quite a lot of goals,” O’Riley said.
“So, it was something that I always knew and was aware of that I was able to do.
“I don’t know what my best tally is, when I was 13 or 14 I probably scored about 30 odd goals, but I’m not sure it’s the same as men’s football! But that would be nice.
“I haven’t set any targets in terms of numbers, I’m not really thinking about numbers at all at the moment if I’m being honest.
“I actually forget quite often when people ask me, which I think is a good sign as I’m solely focused on improving my all-round game.
“I think goals just come as part of that.”
Celtic’s main focal point in attack, Kyogo Furuhashi, kept up his pursuit of his teammate by also getting on the scoresheet at Tynecastle, with the striker now on five for the season.
But O’Riley has so far resisted the urge to rib the forward about trailing him in the goalscoring charts.
“We haven’t even joked about it once to be fair!” he said.
“He’s too down to earth and I’m probably not the kind of guy that would nibble on it either.
“We’ve got a very good relationship, I think that shows on the pitch as well. Neither of us would try to be selfish and try to score ourselves, it’s all about what is the best decision for the team in that moment.
“I think that is reflected in the way we play.”
From a collective point of view, O’Riley feels the performance during the 4-1 win in the capital was another sign of the progress the Celtic team is making under manager Brendan Rodgers.
“I think you could see today and in the Kilmarnock game that things were much more fluid for the most part,” he said.
“At the start of the season there were some worries that it wasn’t looking that fluid, but I think now we are in a place where that is really starting to show.
“Hopefully we can keep getting better in that regard.”
