Martin O'Neill raves over 'sensational' Celtic star who was headed for Parkhead exit this season
The Celtic boss was delighted by the performance of one Hoops star in particular in their 3-1 victory over Motherwell.
Martin O’Neill name-checked Yang-Hyun jun as the standout performer as his Celtic side came from behind to defeat Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.
The South Korean winger cancelled out Elijah Just’s opener in the first half and eventually scored the all-important third goal for The Hoops after Tomas Cvancara converted from the spot. Yang’s influence off the ball was just as impressive as his goalscoring exploits against The Steelmen as he covered every blade of grass in the East End of Glasgow to help Celtic go within touching distance of league leaders Hearts for the time being.
The hero of the hour at Celtic Park today hasn’t always been a popular figure amongst the Parkhead faithful and has struggled to get a consistent run of games under his belt in each of his three seasons at the club. During the summer, the 23-year old was heavily linked with a move away from Celtic, with EFL Championship side, Birmingham City interested among others.
O’Neill on ‘sensational’ Yang performance
The Celtic boss was complimentary of Yang and his fellow winger Daizen Maeda for their work off the ball. O’Neill said: “Yang, he was sensational. Really, really great. He scored the goals, big, big boost, but it was the work that he did going backwards as well too. I wouldn't know what sort of distances he covered today, but it would have been immense.
“I believe that he was about to leave the football club in August time, which has been a wee bit strange, I must admit. What he's done in my two spells here has been, I couldn't have asked for any more really. Not too far behind him was Daizen (Maeda) today. I thought he was great in terms of what he does for the team. The way he goes up and plays centre-forward in the first half, then comes wide in the second half.
“With Yang, I don't know what was happening before. The first time I saw him, he played wide left in a little seven-a-side game here in my first week or something in the training session. He left the full-back for absolute death and could turn both ways, he could go both ways. I said to him, I thought that he might even be better on the left-hand side. He said it didn't matter to him and the way he played today, I'll go with it.”
O’Neill on Motherwell triumph and Araujo update
The visitors were unbeaten in eight of their last nine league games before heading to Celtic Park and were only five points behind The Hoops going into the game. O’Neill was impressed by the way Jens Berthel Askou’s side set up after giving them an early scare. He continued: “It was a great win, a great win for us.
“Naturally I'm delighted with it. I thought it was a really good game of football. Motherwell are a very fine footballing side, no question about that. It was one of those where you just felt it was going to be really open, and so it proved to be. Motherwell were very dangerous throughout the game, and we fought back brilliantly to win, so it was great.”
Celtic were without Julian Araujo at right back this afternoon as the Mexican picked up a minor injury during the week, but O’Neill is confident that he’ll back back imminently. He added: “I'm hoping that he (Araujo) should be alright for next week. If I’m honest I don't know because things seem to change all the time.”
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