Matt O’Riley admits Celtic ‘caused our own problems’ as the midfielder made his debut in a 2-1 win over Hearts on Wednesday following his transfer, via quotes by the Daily Record.
The Parkhead natives beat Robbie Nielson’s Jambos at Tynecastle thanks to goals from Reo Hatate and Georgios Giakoumakis. The result also stretched the Bhoys’ lead to Hearts in third-place to 12-points, while remaining four-points behind Premiership leaders Rangers.
O’Riley helped seal Celtic’s win on his Hoops debut with Giakoumakis flicking home the 21-year-old’s cross past Hearts’ Craig Gordon. Ange Postecoglou omitted the £1.5m January signing from MK Dons from his matchday squad against Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Cup.
Celtic beat Premier League interest from Liverpool, Burnley and Newcastle United to sign O’Riley earlier this month, per The Athletic. He also had offers from around Europe, with PSV Eindhoven, Torino, Bordeaux and Royal Antwerp among those to lodge enquiries.
The London-born technician had featured 30 times across all competitions for MK Dons this term before moving to Glasgow. He had also offered seven goals and seven assists, scoring each and six assists over 26 League One appearances.
O’Riley issues honest Celtic verdict after debut vs Hearts
O’Riley gave an impressive account of himself as the midfielder assisted on his Celtic debut at Hearts on Wednesday night. John Souttar also denied the former England U18 maestro a goal during a composed start to his time in green-and-white.
But the Tynecastle win was not a perfect experience for the former Fulham trainee. O’Riley instead felt Celtic caused their own issues, having allowed Hearts to threaten a comeback.
O’Riley said: “We didn’t control the game as well as we should have, to be honest. We let them get back into it with quite a sloppy goal.
“They should have scored another with the pen, obviously. So, in that sense, I think we caused our own problems.
“But at the end of the day, we still won the game, so that’s the main thing.”
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