Matt O’Riley spoke to the mainstream media this afternoon and revealed that he feels great. The recently capped Danish international has been in the form of his life so far this season for his club, so much so, that his national team manager, Kasper Hjolmund, decided it was time to give him his first full start for his country.
Matty has been sensational since August and he has really taken on board what Brendan Rodgers has asked of him about getting more goals and assists added to his game. This hasn’t just been precluded to domestic football in the Scottish Premiership, but rather the Dane has really shone when the team have stepped up in the UEFA Champions League group stages this year. He’s assisted Kyogo Furuhashi twice with our only two goals in the competition and both have been elite level stuff.
The former Fulham academy graduate has insisted he feels really good in all aspects of his life and that this has saw him reap the rewards on the field. “I feel stronger. Both mentally and physically, which is progress. As long as I am improving then I am heading in the right direction and I feel I have done that this season.
“I have a clearer mind first and foremost. I am more open when I am on the pitch. I have taken a bit of pressure off myself. I am not going into every game expecting to score, I am just going into games trying to do the best I can for the team.”
22-year-old English-born Danish midfielder, O’Riley, has reiterated the necessity for mental as well as physical well-being and revealed he likes to meditate as a means of keeping on track and positive in mindset. He continued: “The big thing that has helped the most is just being in the best frame of mind in my head.
“I meditate a lot. I speak with my, I don’t even know how to describe him, my friend/life coach who lives in India regularly. I work with him a lot in terms of speaking about things, which were maybe kept inside me for a long time.
Celtic’s star performer of the season so far added: “I might have not had, not necessarily the courage, to speak about, but the knowledge to just understand how to speak out about it. That has helped me loads and it has helped me to be a more rounded person overall I would say.
“I feel more confident and open to speak to people in general as a result of that. All of that collectively has helped me to be in a good frame of mind.”
Paul Gillespie
