BACKFROM THEDED
Forgotten man Boyata now looks to be Hoops’ main centre-back after revival
IN TERMS of a safe bet, a weekend Celtic win has become the staple of coupons up and down the country. What few would have predicted, however, was the resurgence of Dedryck Boyata.
For the opening half of this season, the Belgian defender was a forgotten man as he trudged after high-profile games from his seat in the stand back to Lennoxtown for a midnight session on the treadmill.
Even when the 26-year-old emerged from cold storage after the mid-season break towards the end of the January there remained a degree of scepticism about his involvement; with the transfer window still open, there was a theory that his starting jersey against Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup game and the effusiveness of Brendan Rodgers’ words after the game may have been designed to put the player in Celtic’s shop window.
Yet, in the weeks that have followed Boyata has maintained his place in the team and offered evidence that he may well in fact be the best central defender at the club. Eyebrow-raising indeed.
The decade between 16 and 26 has been mis-spent in many ways for the Belgian. Voted Manchester City’s young player of the year in season 2009-10, Boyata stalled through injury and then a lack of first-team exposure in the years when he really needed it.
His time at Celtic under Ronny Deila was marred by sloppiness. Routine mistakes, rash judgements and a general fragility suggested that Boyata, like Efe Ambrose, was a relic of a previous chapter at the club. If the mark of a sound coach is the ability to get the best out of players, though, then Rodgers’ stock remains high.
The spine of the Hoops boss’s side has remained similar to the one he inherited in June. The contributions of Moussa Dembele – who stole the show yet again on Saturday with a sumptuous opening goal – and Scott Sinclair are difficult to ignore, but Rodgers has taken the likes of Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong and Jozo Simunovic to a higher level.
DITTO now Boyata. In fairness, for all that Hamilton Accies were compact and resolute for the bulk of the first half on Saturday, any time the ball came forward, Boyata was calm and composed at the back.
There is an air of confidence about the player that has rarely been seen throughout his time at Celtic and it is interesting to see just how that develops over the coming months.
Amid the long list of stats that now come with every Celtic outing – 32 domestic games without defeat and 21 consecu-
Boyata has barely put a foot wrong since coming back into the starting line-up and looks an entirely different player to the jittery defender of 12 months ago
tive league wins – the fact they have been pretty miserly at the back has been overshadowed.
Celtic have lost only four league goals this season at Celtic Park. Since the turn of the year they have lost just two goals – both at McDiarmid Park – and have clean sheets in seven of their last eight games, with Boyata featuring in all of those outings.
A partnership of Erik Sviatchenko and Simunovic looked to be the foundation of Celtic’s backline up until Boyata’s re-emergence, but with more pace than Svi- atchenko – who started the 2-0 win on Saturday because of an injury picked up by Simunovic at training on Friday – it could be that Boyata who holds down the main central defensive position.
He has barely put a foot wrong since coming back into the starting line-up and looks an entirely different player to the jittery defender of 12 months ago. It helps, of course, that he is playing in a winning team.
Like Motherwell last weekend, the win over Hamilton did not see Celtic at their finest but they didn’t need to be. Dembele netted a cracker of an opening goal when a clever drag-back took him past the reach of Massimo Donati before he stepped forward and pinged one into the top corner. He took his tally to 29 for the season when he netted from the spot on the hour mark after Kieran Tierney had been upended by Donati in the box. Just as every weekend seems to bring in a Celtic win, every week sees Dembele linked with another club. This time it is Manchester United. Chances are he won’t be in Glasgow to fulfil the four-year contract he signed in July but Celtic should enjoy him while they have him.
The 20-year-old had a lull in form going into the Christmas break but since hitting the net at Ibrox he has kicked on again. Eleven goals in his last 7 games underlines the form he has been in and at the minute it is difficult to see who can stop him – or his team.