Turning Japanese – Greg Taylor talking about Celtic’s J-League January signings

With everyone’s attention on Ange Postecoglou’s wonderfully forthright and honest press conference yesterday, it would have been easy to miss Greg Taylor’s own confident and assured appearance in front of the assembled media – including The Celtic Star.

Celtic’s left back has had some tough times this season, with an extensive time spent out the side with a shoulder injury, yet when he’s been available for selection, he has been one of the managers go to players and there are good reasons why.

Just as he portrayed a far more relaxed character in front of the camera, appearing particularly engaged when asked how his Japanese skills were progressing, breaking into a relaxed Cheshire grin, before admitting ‘it definitely needs work’, he has also appeared far more at ease in a Celtic shirt than he ever has up to this point.

For some players the Ange Postecoglou demands, process and philosophy have been an evident struggle. Some have come into the team, been removed, spent more time trying to learn on the training ground, before returning to the line-up and seeming no further forward. Taylor however has been a player who has clearly grasped the technical, tactical and incessant physical demands of the manager and has set about making himself Celtic’s first choice left back, and he certainly is that now.

The inverted full back role must have been a challenge for Taylor as much as any full back at the club, and while some tactical allowances have been made for certain players, Taylor doesn’t appear to have been one who has not been asked deliver his role entirely.

When Callum McGregor plays in the deeper lying midfield role it is evident his Captain trusts him entirely, he is happy to receive the ball form Taylor and doesn’t give prior instruction, and in return McGregor is happy to give Taylor the ball in tight situations and appears comfortable Taylor is capable of both retaining the ball and progressing the team up the park. And Taylor had been just as adept at linking with Jota when the Portuguese attacker has played, possibly even more so than he did with Moi Elyounoussi last season, and there were times, in a tough old season, where that partnership stood out.

Of course, there have been times where the work in progress of an adapted role saw learning on the job lead to lesser performances, especially at a start to the season Taylor described yesterday as a ‘a testing period, but enjoyable ‘, and a challenging spell where the group had ‘grown as a team and grown as a collective’. But in the main Taylor has been one of the players who picked up on the demands early, and he explained the instructions given from the manager have certainly aided his own progression when he said yesterday ‘he’s been very clear and concise about how he wants us to play’.

Since that start to the season Taylor had been on an upward trajectory until that shoulder injury hit. And the time spent out the side seemed to have been put to good use, as when he returned to the side Taylor has arguably been better than ever, as his own inclusion and excellent display at Tannadice, in arguably Celtic’s best all round team performance of the season, evidenced the balance the player brings to the Celtic team, before a somewhat overlooked performance in the League Cup final against Hibs in what was a real coming of age performance for the full back as a Celtic player.

Greg Taylor certainly seemed a far more assured character in front of the camera yesterday than he’s previously been. And on the field, he has certainly been a player who has been an important cog, as Ange tries to get his Celtic machine into full working order for what Taylor describes as the upcoming ‘business end’ of the season. Greg Taylor is certainly a player the manager trusts and he ‘ll be an interesting player to watch progress as the season develops and as his confidence as a Celtic player grows both on and off camera.

Continued on the next page…

THE QUESTIONS PUT TO GREG TAYLOR BY THE MEDIA INCLUDING THE CELTIC STAR AND THE CELTIC LEFT-BACK’S ANSWERS, IN ENGLISH, NOT JAPANESE…
Here are the questions put to Greg Taylor yesterday (The Celtic Star questions are in green) and the Celtic left-back’s answers…

How has the winter break been?  It’s been good. It’s a mini pre-season so it’s good to get some serious work done as we don’t really get the chance to get proper training done throughout the season because we’ve got that many games so it’s a good time to do that.

Some new faces have arrived, how have you found them in training? They have all settled in really well and hopefully, they will be good additions to the squad and can help us improve in the next few months of the season.

How’s your Japanese coming on? It needs work to be fair but luckily the Japanese lads are trying their best to speak English and that does help.

What have you noticed about them that is different from what you are used to at training? They have all settled in really well and they all have a fantastic work ethic and that is something I think all of our signings have had this year and that has been beneficial. More of that quality and work ethic can only improve us.

How would you sum up the first part of the season? I think it has been a testing period to start with and we had a lot of bodies and a lot of change and it has been enjoyable. We have grown as a squad and grown as a team and grown as a collective. All of us have tried as hard as we can to continue to improve and we will continue to try and do that in the next few months.

Has it come together quicker than you imagined? I don’t think we looked too far ahead and put timescales on these things and thankfully we have picked up the managers ideas and that is down to him and he has been very clear and concise in the way he wants us to play. There has been no reason for us not to understand our roles and thankfully we have all managed to do that.

How crucial is this next part of the season with the cups and the league? There are no more breaks now and this is the business end of the season and the next few months is when the silverware is handed out apart from the trophy we won in December. We need to do our talking on the pitch.

How relieved are you that fans are allowed back in for the Hibs game? It’s a massive bonus and I am glad that we have come to that decision. I think it was the logical one and we need our fans so to have 60,000 there come Monday night is only going to benefit us.

There is going to be five substitutes allowed going forward as a player is that a good thing for player welfare in respect to playing too many games? I’ll need to be clever how I answer as I don’t want to leave out any games. I think it will benefit us as a squad yet but equally, I said no as I’d rather keep playing. Once you are in that routine you want to just keep getting the games in and you only improve that way by getting into your stride. From a players point of view, you do want to play but I do understand the other aspect that it will help us all.

You talked about a mini pre-season, how do you feel personally, are you fit and fully up to speed and raring to go? I’m really good and I was fortunate that I managed to make it back for the cup final. I spent a long period out and it was a good chance to build my fitness and build on the games that I got before the break so I am ready to attack the next few months.

You mentioned the long period out has that fuelled your hunger to make an impact in the second part of the season? I think we all want to make an impact as this is the business end of the season and nobody wants to miss any games. Everybody wants to play their part and hopefully contribute to the club’s success and we will all be trying to do that myself included.

You will want to roll on the confidence from the League Cup win into the rest of the season – won’t you? We’ve touched upon that as a group, winning as a team and success at this club is so important and it will help us improve because when you win together you want more of that. It was a good day winning the League Cup.

Has the mentality of the team improved over the course of the season? I think we have improved as a squad and I don’t think our mentality was something that was lacking as such. We know the demand of this club is to win every game at all costs and we did drop a few points earlier in the season but we know what’s important for the games coming up.

Niall J