As Celtic sits pretty eleven points at the top of the Scottish Premiership albeit with Rangers still to play today and with a game in hand, today’s 3-1 win over St Johnstone showed the best and worst of Brendan Rodgers’ side.
The first half was lacklustre and that kind of speed for a spell into the second half but the introduction of Hyeongyu Oh and Mikey Johnston seemed to give the team the spark that was missing from the Celtic side.
The final thirty minutes of the second half were in complete contrast to what the Celtic fans had witnessed in the first 45 and it was during that time that Celtic stormed into a 3-1 lead after brilliant goals by Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and James Forrest.
The Celtic captain was brilliant today but instead of focusing on his own performance, McGregor hailed one of the second-half substitutes for his contribution to the win in Perth.
Mikey Johnston praised after ‘outstanding’ second half performance for Celtic
The Celtic captain was lavish in his praise for the Republic of Ireland winger and said that Johnston had everything you would want in a winger.
McGregor said [Sky Sports], “He was outstanding. To be honest he’s been training like that for a while. And it’s brilliant to see him get back in.
“Huge contribution and he gave us a different dynamic as well. And his quality on the ball, his running, he’s everything we want from our wingers.
“Really delighted for him and we just keep going now.”
The 24-year-old has come under some serious criticism over the past few weeks as he has failed to make the breakthrough into Brendan Rodgers‘ first team.
25 minutes against Hibs earlier in the season drew a negative verdict from Rodgers as the Celtic manager bemoaned Johnston’s giving the ball away needlessly in the 0-0 draw with the Edinburgh side.
But today, Johnston was energetic and was Celtic’s best player as he looked to take on the St Johnstone full-back to help win the three points.
Let’s hope Mikey can kick on now and get a run in the team. He may well do after Hyunjun Yang‘s performance left a lot to be desired.
In other news, ‘Stunning’… Chris Sutton was blown away with what 23-year-old Celtic player did vs St Johnstone