Hoops boss full of praise for ‘tactically brilliant’ McGregor

Brendan Rodgers praised “tactically brilliant” Callum McGregor after the Celtic midfielder shifted around the Hoops system seamlessly in the 4-2 win over Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Scotland international was at his versatile best as the home side first reshuffled in the 21st minute when skipper Scott Brown went off injured to be replaced by winger Scott Sinclair.

Midfielders Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham both scored in the opening 45 minutes and French striker Odsonne Edouard grabbed a double after the break as Neil Lennon’s Hibs twice reduced the deficit with goals from Florian Kamberi and Martin Boyle.

The impressive win took Celtic into second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership ahead of the Europa League clash with RB Leipzig in Germany on Thursday night, with Brown a doubt along with striker Leigh Griffiths who missed the game through illness.

Rodgers, however, waxed lyrical about another of his key players.

He said: “There is only one problem, when you move Callum McGregor you want Callum McGregor to be in the other position.

“He is absolutely tactically brilliant.

“He played three positions. He played wide in a 4-3-3, he played as a holding player in the bottom of the diamond and then in the left side of a diamond.

“His view of the game is so good, his brain is of a really top-level performer.

“Tactically he is just a special player to work with and he has this unique quality for here in Scotland, that he keeps the ball which at the top level you have to do. He is such a top-class player.”

Former Celtic boss Lennon, who described the performance of referee Don Robertson as “abysmal”, said: “I was frustrated with the first half, we didn’t do the things that we wanted to do and we got exposed for pace in certain areas.

“In the first half we lacked belief in the final third at times, we let Celtic off the hook at times. We were a lot better in the second half.”

Arnaud Djoum scored his first goal since March 2017 to send leaders Hearts on their way to a 2-1 victory over Aberdeen.

Djoum’s header and a Steven Naismith penalty late in the first half appeared to put Hearts in total command but Aberdeen came back strongly in the second half, inspired by substitute Niall McGinn.

McGinn won a penalty that was converted by Gary Mackay-Steven 10 minutes after the break and the game remained in the balance after Naismith missed a second spot-kick.

But Hearts held on to bounce back from defeat by Rangers and extend their lead at the summit to three points.

Kilmarnock came from behind to win for the fourth successive match – but controversy surrounded their 2-1 victory against St Mirren.

The award of Aaron Tshibola’s second-half winner is likely to rankle with the Saints management team as they slipped to their fourth successive defeat.

Adam Hammill’s free-kick had the Paisley side ahead in the early stages but second-half strikes from Alan Power and Tshibola gave the Ayrshire side a fifth win in six games as they kept the pressure up on the league’s pace-setters.

SNS.