Hart’s saves are as crucial as Kyogo and Jota’s goals for ex-defender Mjallby
Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota may have been grabbing most of the headlines.
But Johan Mjallby has pinpointed Joe Hart as being key to Celtic’s Premiership aspirations this season.
A stalwart for the Hoops during the Martin O’neill era, the Swedish central defender helped the club win three titles, get into the Champions League and reach the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.
He was also assistant manager to Neil Lennon when the first three Championships of the nine-in-a-row run were secured.
During that time, he helped identify Virgil van Dijk as a £2.5-million signing. Four years later, Liverpool paid Southampton £75m for the Dutchman.
He keeps a close eye on Celtic these days, and is delighted to see them giving Rangers a title race after their collective collapse in the previous campaign.
Mjallby has no doubt a lot of it is down to Ange Postecoglou’s organisational skills, but the Swede feels Hart is due much of the credit.
The veteran English keeper has been in fine form, pulling off several superb saves both domestically and in Europe.
It’s a quality Celtic lacked last season when Vasilis Barkas was between the sticks, with the £4.5m Greek keeper conceding several soft goals.
It hurt Neil Lennon’s team time and time again, so Mjallby is pleased to see that situation is now sorted out.
The 50-year-old, capped 49 times by Sweden, said: “It looks as though Celtic is in a really good place right now.
“The midweek win against Hearts was yet another positive. They kept a clean sheet and defended well when they needed to. They could have scored more, while Hearts may feel unlucky that they didn’t get a goal.
“But that’s an indicator about the difference between this season and last season, when Celtic may well have dropped points in the game.
“One of the main things for me is having Joe Hart in goal. He has been brilliant.
“When I was Neil’s assistant, Fraser Forster was between the sticks, and he was sensational. He won us games on his own.
“When we won the League Cup in 2019, he was brilliant that day at Hampden Park. He made three or four incredible saves against Rangers and we held on for a 1-0 win.
“So we all know the importance of having a top keeper.
“Joe makes big saves, and is a great communicator on the park. The defenders will love having him behind them.
“When you consider that Ange has had to build a whole new defence in such a short space of time, it’s an amazing achievement to have the best defensive record in the country.”
At the other end, Kyogo scored an excellent winner against the Jambos, and Mjallby is delighted to see the Japanese star doing so well.
Mjallby (inset) said: “Kyogo looks to be top-class. He can score goals, and his awareness of space is second to none.
“For many years Celtic has had a very good recruitment policy, and that is continuing.
“When you think of the likes of Victor Wanyama, Shunsuke Nakamura, Virgil van Dijk and Jeremie Frimpong coming in for bargain fees and being sold on for big profits, it’s something to be proud of. “You can also go as far back as Henrik Larsson, Lubo Moravcik and Stiliyan Petrov.
“Henrik was signed for just £650,000, and when you think about what he achieved, that was utterly incredible. He was sensational.”
Mjallby was back in Glasgow last week for a reunion night at The Hydro with several of his former Celtic team-mates.
He loved the experience, and said: “Almost 10,000 fans turned out on a Monday night to pay tribute to the team from around 20 years ago, and the manager, Martin O’neill.
“The Celtic fans are very, very special, and made us all feel incredibly welcome. It was as if we had never been away. A few tears were shed, that’s for sure.
“We don’t all get together often these days. It’s so difficult with all of our different commitments, and all the travel restrictions.
“That’s why it’s important to treasure time spent with each other, and I hope it’s not too long before it happens again.”