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Celtic’s win over Falkirk was a hard-fought one that Brendan Rodgers would have preferred to have been a lot more straightforward.
The Celtic boss made eight changes due to injury and squad rotation from the team that beat Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League midweek and, to be honest, it showed.
Celtic started with a whole new back four as Auston Trusty and Alex Valle got their first starts of the season and Anthony Ralston and Stephen Welsh filled in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston.
However, it was the impact of the second-half substitutes that turned the game as a Celtic second-string struggled against Championship side, Falkirk.
And whilst the likes of Nicolas Kuhn are gaining all the plaudits, BBC pundits Pat Bonner and Stephen McGinn were blown away by another Celtic cameo yesterday.
Pat Bonner lauds ‘unbelievable’ Greg Taylor
Bonner was really impressed with Greg Taylor and reckons that compared to debutant, Alex Valle, the Celtic defender is still the ‘main guy’ for Brendan Rodgers in that fullback position.
Bonner told BBC Radio Scotland, “He [Rodgers] knows his team now. He knows the players that are playing at the level that he wants. Greg Taylor, people have been on to me many, many times about we need a left back, Greg Taylor has been unbelievable in the way that he plays and the tempo.
“And when you compare him, no disrespect, to the younger player Valle that was there, he’s a young boy starting out in his career.
“And he’s come in from Barcelona, and everybody thinks, ‘Oh, coming from Barcelona, he’s got to be an unbelievable player’.
“Greg Taylor showed today that he’s so far ahead of him at this moment in time in the pecking order. And I know there’s a difference in age and experience and all that here in Scotland, but this is Barcelona versus Celtic you could say or versus Spanish football versus Scottish football. And Greg Taylor will be the one that we put up there as the main guy.”
McGinn lauds Celtic ‘leader’ Greg Taylor
McGinn was also extremely impressed by Taylor and said that his form has been so good that most fans are now ‘demanding’ the Celtic defender is given a new contract.
Stephen McGinn continued, “I totally agree. The majority of the Celtic fans are warming to him. And in a way, I see a lot of people almost demanding he gets rewarded with a new contract.
“I think he’s a leader in the group. You see when he was coming off at halftime, he’s barking at the players, ‘Come on! We need to go we need to up the tempo’.
Anthony Ralston celebrates his teams 4th goal with teammate Greg Taylor during the cinch Premiership match between Celtic FC and Kilmarnock FC at C…
Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images
“And I think that’s really important. You can never have enough of them.”
Taylor has been an excellent servant for Celtic since he came into the club to replace Kieran Tierney. After struggling to settle into the club, the Scotland defender really came into his own after the arrival of Ange Postecoglou.
But under Brendan Rodgers, Taylor seems to have come on leaps and bounds. With his contract expiring at the end of this season, the 26-year-old has proven just how important he is to the Celtic boss after his second half sub appearance against Falkirk.
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