Scottish champions Celtic are back in action away to Motherwell on Wednesday evening, with Ange Postecoglou’s side looking secure their place in the League Cup semi-finals with victory at Fir Park.
The current holders head into that meeting with the Steelmen off the back of a stunning display against Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday, having eased concerns over their finishing ability by putting six past Lee Johnson’s men.
A key figure in that convincing triumph – which saw long-serving ace James Forrest net a lethal hat trick to bring up a century of goals for the club – was that of summer signing Aaron Mooy, with the 32-year-old producing arguably his “best game for Celtic” yet, according to journalist John McGinley.
The Australia international – who arrived in Glasgow on a free transfer in the recent window – has endured a slow start to life in his new surroundings, having notably been hooked at half-time on his only other Scottish Premiership start in the defeat to St Mirren last month.
That showing had seen pundit Charlie Nicholas suggest that the former Brighton and Hove Albion man looked “off the pace”, while Stiliyan Petrov also suggested that the £4.5m-rated playmaker had been “sloppier” than most against the Buddies.
Having been recalled to the starting XI at the weekend, however, the 5 foot 9 gem more than took his chance as he showed his undoubted quality on the ball, producing two assists having lined up alongside Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate in the centre of the park.
Those contributions included a stunning dinked pass for teammate Daizen Maeda on his ‘weaker’ left foot in the closing stages, with the Japan international duly slotting home for his first league goal of the season to add late gloss to the scoreline.
The 53-cap sensation provided three key passes from his 75 touches on the day, while also offering a real presence defensively as he won three of his six ground duels and recorded three tackles, with his match rating of 8.0, as per SofaScore, the third-highest of any player for either side.
Such a performance was also lauded by Glasgow Live‘s Ryan Thorn who praised the midfielder’s ‘composed’ display, while also stating that Mooy ‘provides assurance’ in front of the back four having ‘won everything’ against the Easter Road outfit.
As the aforementioned McGinley also stated, that outing was a “promising sign there is still more to come from him”, with tomorrow’s clash seemingly the ideal chance for the one-time Huddersfield Town man to keep this form going and begin to maintain some rhythm after a stop-start past few months at Paradise.
