Brendan Rodgers has been getting plenty of praise, and rightly so, for making huge improvements to some of the players he inherited at Celtic.
The two standouts are Matt O’Riley and Liam Scales.
For O’Riley the dynamic midfielder is on the brink of international recognition after Brendan Rodgers made it clear to him that he needs to start adding more goals to his game at Celtic.
As for Scales, his meteoric rise to the Celtic first team has been well documented on TBR Celtic. So impressive has been his form that Scales is now a full international for the Republic of Ireland and has seriously impressed the media in his homeland with his performances.
But there is one player that Kenny Dalglish believes is performing better for Celtic under Brendan Rodgers than he ever did under Ange Postecoglou.
Dalglish said [The Sunday Post print edition page 65], “But there are signs of improvement and Brendan Rodgers had every right to be pleased with his players on Wednesday. And proud of them.
“You can see that Kyogo Furuhashi is better now than this time last year. He is far more accomplished.
“His link-up play for the opening goal, and the finish itself, was sublime.”
The ‘sublime‘ Japanese striker has been wonderful for Celtic this season. As well as continuing his terrific goalscoring run for the club, Kyogo has adopted and embraced his new role in the team under Rodgers.
Furuhashi is now coming deep to receive the ball and whilst he is doing that, the Japanese striker is dragging his defenders with him.
That allows the likes of Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley to drive forward into space and grab their lion’s share of the goals this season.
And his work rate in closing down the opposition defenders is just as good as Daizen Meada’s. Kyogo has been brilliant under Rodgers but is he really performing better for Rodgers?
I’ll let you decide.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers would have never allowed ‘powerful’ Celtic man Ange Postecoglou sold to leave the club