Yang delivered after control slipped

There are many roles a winger has to fulfil in the modern game, but the most important part is to beat your man, get a cross in and find a teammate.  Yang delivered this yesterday.  With Celtic under pressure, defending a one-goal lead late in the game, he collected the ball on the left – not his favoured side – twice dropped a shoulder to create space behind the defender, then pulled the ball back to give Matt O’Riley an easy chance to seal the points.

There is more to his game, in particular, he can mix it with physical defenders, but that move will cause opponents lots of trouble.  If he can consistently play to this standard, defenders will have to double up on him, creating space for others.  It was a very encouraging 20-minute performance from the 21-year-old.

Celtic were well on top early on and deservedly ahead before our play and control of the game slipped.  Aberdeen’s equaliser disturbed Celtic’s flow more than it should have.  The goal itself did not paint either central defender or the keeper in a good light.  Joe should have held a higher starting position, enabling him to collect balls in-behind.  Cameron was slow to respond and unable to get a block on the cross, while Maik was equally slow to react.

Two visits each to Pittodrie, Ibrox and Tynecastle will be our most difficult games of the season.  Half of those matches take place during the first nine fixtures.  Picking up wins as we did yesterday will go a long way towards securing the title.