Celtic star simply had his finest sport all season

Celtic have closed the hole on the high of the Scottish Premiership desk on a probably pivotal Sunday.

The Hoops demolished Kilmarnock 4-0 at Parkhead, with Johnny Kenny breaking the impasse, Kieran Tierney including a second shortly after half time, earlier than Daizen Maeda after which Arne Engels from the penalty spot added somewhat gloss to the scoreline late on.

With Hearts held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United over at Tynecastle, the Hoops go into the worldwide break now simply seven factors adrift of the leaders, additionally with a sport in hand.

For Martin O’Neill, since returning to the Parkhead dugout after twenty years away, he has loved back-to-back 4-0 Premiership wins, in addition to dumping Rangers out of the League Cup semi-finals at Hampden; the much less stated about Thursday’s Europa League conflict with Midtjylland the higher!

On this victory, for nonetheless lengthy the 73-year-old stays in caretaker cost, he realized that one Celtic participant specifically may be counted on.

Will O’Neill nonetheless be at Celtic after the break?

After Sunday’s comfy victory, O’Neill confirmed “I genuinely do not know” if he’ll nonetheless be in cost for his or her subsequent fixture, including that if the board do appoint a everlasting supervisor through the worldwide break that it will “be completely high quality by me”.

When Celtic do return to motion later this month, they’re going to journey to St Mirren earlier than going through Feyenoord in Rotterdam in a repeat of the 1970 European Cup Closing, however who might be in control of these matches?

Nicely, may it’s Wilfried Nancy?

He’s presently the favorite to land the job, reportedly one of many membership’s high targets alongside Kieran McKenna, and a transfer to Glasgow might have edged somewhat bit nearer this weekend, after Nancy’s Columbus Crew have been dumped out the MLS play-offs by rivals FC Cincinnati on Saturday, which means their season is now over, which may expedite any appointment, if he’s certainly who they need.

Regardless of who’s sat within the away dugout in Paisley in a fortnight, they certainly can not help however be impressed by the efficiency of 1 Celtic participant specifically this weekend.

Celtic star enjoys his best day of the season vs Kilmarnock

The Celtic medical employees might have to paraphrase Police Chief Brody from Jaws: we’ll want an even bigger therapy room!

The Hoops are already with out Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, Jota and Kelechi Ịheanachọ, earlier than Hampden hero Callum Osmand​​​​​​​ suffered a long-term harm in Herning on Thursday, whereas Marcelo Saracchi was then stretchered off within the first half towards Kilmarnock.

This clearly just isn’t best, however does after all current alternatives for others and, within the absence of Carter-Vickers, his compatriot Auston Trusty has actually impressed.

The American centre-back put in a superb show towards Rangers in final weekend’s semi-final victory, however was presumably much more eye-catching this Sunday, with the statistics supporting this assertion.

Because the desk paperwork, the centre-half put in a colossal defensive show on Sunday, ranked first for duels in addition to correct passes and touches.

Meantime, when solely Celtic gamers are thought of, no one amassed extra defensive actions, clearances or interceptions.

Glasgow World documented that he ‘continued his wealthy vein of kind’, whereas noting that the 27-year-old seems to be the right man to fill a relatively giant Carter-Vickers-shaped void on the again.

The defender, who was named man of the match, was additionally labelled “composed, dominant and aggressive”, having been “immense​​​​​​​” since Carter-Vickers suffered a long-term achilles harm towards Sturm Graz.

As recognition of his kind, Trusty has been recalled to the US squad for his or her friendlies towards Paraguay in Pennsylvania after which Uruguay in Florida subsequent week.

Trusty has not performed a single minute for the USMNT since November final 12 months, however may properly change that as Mauricio Pochettino continues to experiment forward of the World Cup.

Again at membership degree, Celtic will want Trusty to stay match, out there and in kind as a result of, frankly, they have no different choices and, if a brand new supervisor is appointed within the subsequent fortnight, he has actually staked a declare to stay a key determine. This was undoubtedly his best day of the marketing campaign up to now.