Raw ambition can lead Taylor to even greater heights
POSTECOGLOU TAKES PRIDE IN PROGRESS OF DRIVEN GREG
CELTIC supporters have marvelled at Kyogo’s goals, Jota’s footwork and the sublime passing of Reo Hatate. Yet arguably the singularly most impressive performer for Ange Postecoglou’s team this season has been a man who does not command, nor seek, such adoration.
When Postecoglou sanctioned a £3.5million outlay on Alexandro Bernabei over the summer, it seemed certain that Greg Taylor’s days as a first-team regular were numbered.
Competent enough operating as an inverted full-back in the Australian’s maiden season in Glasgow, the former Kilmarnock man seemed an obvious candidate for a close-season upgrade.
Instead, he knuckled down and resolved to take his game to a new level. The improvement has been such that no one is asking the question of why Bernabei has yet to make a league start for his new club, far less feature in Champions League tests against Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk.
‘From the first day Greg has really embraced what we are trying to do,’ said Postecoglou. ‘He wanted to improve himself as a footballer in every aspect. He caught on early there was more in his game that he could improve and he is really starting to see the fruits of that.
‘He is only 24 and I keep saying that you can either settle for whatever box people put you in or whatever label they give you, or you can just keep developing and reach levels that people maybe thought you couldn’t.
‘That is the challenge, rather than sitting and getting comfortable. Greg could have settled into life as a regular at this club but I think he is more ambitious than that.’
The challenge of competing for a jersey is nothing new to Taylor. At international level he has stood a distant third in the queue for a left-back role behind Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson.
Yet with Robertson out injured and Tierney established as the team’s left-sided central defender, Taylor stands an excellent chance of filling the wing-back role in the forthcoming Nations League triple header against Ukraine and the Republic of Ireland.
‘Greg feels very strongly about representing Scotland,’ added Postecoglou. ‘He knows that he has some world-class players competing in that position but he is determined to get to that level.
‘I think you have seen that his performances have improved and he has done well at Champions
‘HE WANTS TO BE THE BEST HE CAN BE AND WHEN YOU DO THAT YOU CAN CHANGE OTHER PEOPLE’S PERCEPTIONS’
League level, but the key is to keep pushing. If he keeps that mindset, then he can get to whatever level he wants.’
Even at Kilmarnock, Taylor was renowned for being an understated character and took time to assert himself at Celtic after being bought by Neil Lennon for an undisclosed fee in 2019.
While there’s a natural inclination for the support and the media to gravitate towards the exotic and the expensive, Taylor has altered perceptions by enhancing his performance levels and sustaining them.
Once regarded as the weak link, he has been integral to the team’s storming start to the Premiership season and did not look out of place against Real Madrid’s superstars.
‘It is up to the individual,’ said
Postecoglou. ‘In life we can settle for what we have and allow other people to shape opinions about us or we can do something about it and change people’s opinions.
‘Greg comes in here every day and wants to be the very best version of himself that he can be. He has been determined to embrace everything we are doing here in a football and a cultural sense.
‘Even though he is 24, he is one of the loudest in our environment. He wants to be the best he can be and when you do that, I think you can change people’s perceptions.
‘Sometimes we can be afraid to do that and we would rather stay in a comfort zone that people put us in.’
Postecoglou sets a lot of store in character and that’s part of the reason he has brought fellow Australian Aaron Mooy to Glasgow.
Today, Mooy returns to St Mirren, a club where he had a fairly unspectacular stint early in his career. Now 33, the midfielder recently remarked that the young players at Celtic are far ahead of where he was at the same age.
Postecoglou disputes that view but also offers mitigation for a player who had to move to the other side of the world and back again to eventually scale the heights that saw him sign for Manchester
City and play at
Premier League level with
Huddersfield and Brighton. ‘Aaron is being more than a little bit modest there,’ said the former Socceroos boss. ‘To be fair to Aaron, and this isn’t unusual for Australian footballers, he had to overcome hurdles as a young player.
‘He came across at a young age and it was hard for him to break though. He had to go back to Australia to relaunch his career.
‘That’s not easy because when you go back to Australia it can be easy to fall into a comfort zone. He had to show real determination not to see it as a
backwards step but to see it as a way to get back to Europe. He got himself to the Premier League, he has been to a World Cup.
‘Everyone has a different journey. I think Aaron was as talented as some of the guys we have here but he had very different challenges to overcome.
‘The footballer he is today and the person he is today is because he showed that resilience. He had to go through those tough times.
‘You get some players who break through when they are young and have a meteoric rise but then they don’t understand how to handle challenges and setbacks when they inevitably come.
‘Aaron has those lessons early on and used them to get the maximum out of his career.’
Mooy had most recently played in
China with Shanghai Port and, while he arrived short of match fitness, his role in Postecoglou’s squad has become clearer in recent weeks.
After instructing his team to run and press at high intensity, the substitute board normally goes up between 60-70 minutes to indicate that the team’s furthest-advanced midfielders Hatate and Matt O’Riley have run their race.
Mooy and David Turnbull will normally come on in their place, with Mooy taking the anchor role from Callum McGregor, who moves into an advanced position.
A conscientious ball player, Mooy’s precision passing allows Celtic to close out games with control and, one suspects, his nous will be ever more valuable as the various competitions enter their decisive phases. ‘We have made a lot of progress as a team over the last 13 or 14 months but we still have a very young group of players,’ added the manager. ‘These guys all have a helluva lot of development ahead of them. My job is to keep pushing them to be the best they can be. Having someone experienced like Aaron helps with that.
‘He came in late, he had missed pre-season and hadn’t played for a while. He had a couple of months where he was training on his own.
‘Unlike like last year, we have now had the luxury where we could bring in the likes of Aaron and (Sead) Haksabanovic and one or two others and take our time with them.
‘Aaron has got stronger and after the international break we have something like 11 games in 30-odd days — he will be an important part of that period.’