GIVEN the possible ramifications of Wednesday night’s Scottish Premiership results on the title race, it is perhaps only natural that Greg Taylor returned to the Celtic dressing room after his side’s win over Hearts to find his phone buzzing with notifications.
Unsurprisingly, one of those exchanges was between Taylor senior of Celtic and younger brother, Ally, who was on the bench as his Kilmarnock side defeated Rangers on the same night. But with all due respect to the younger Taylor, there was a more feted player who was also desperate to offer his congratulations to the Celtic left-back.
Liverpool star and Scotland captain Andy Robertson was among the first to reach out to his international teammate on Wednesday evening, with Taylor rather pinching himself that a man he watches on television to improve his own game is not only his direct competition for a place in Steve Clarke’s Scotland team, but is also now among his friends.
“If there’s a game on then I’ll watch players who might be direct opponents or, if it’s an English match, I’ll concentrate on the individuals who play in my position,” Taylor said.
“The two at Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, are obvious ones to look at; the number of goals they create is just ridiculous. They’re good examples for me.
“Andy actually texted me just after we beat Hearts to congratulate me. I have a good relationship with him – he’s a top, top player and a good lad as well. What a career he’s having.
“Andy has his own aspirations for this season but, hopefully, we’ll get together with Scotland in March and have a good chat.
“It’s important to be playing for you club if you want to be selected by your country but the important thing is to be performing well every week. That’s what my focus is on right now and, hopefully, I’ll be involved next month.”
Killie fans may well be eager to get a greater glimpse of the next Taylor to emerge at Rugby Park, with 18-year-old Ally yet to make an appearance this season, but their footballing education in Ayrshire isn’t the only thing the brothers have in common.
Ironically, both actually left Rangers at the same time as kids to continue their careers with Kilmarnock, perhaps making the turn of events on Wednesday night all the sweeter for the pair.
“I texted my wee brother because I knew he was on the bench,” said Taylor. “I just said: ‘Well done’ because I was hoping he had got on, but he was pleased because it was a good result for Killie in their bid to get into the top six.
“He’s buzzing about being involved with the first team because this is only his second full season there. He plays in central midfield and he’s a good player – he just needs to take his chance when it comes along.
“Obviously, it was a good win for us as well and we played really well, particularly in the second half. We’ve just got to keep it going now.”
Keeping it going may well be Celtic’s motto right now, but it fits Taylor rather well as a personal mission statement too.
After he was forced to bide his time for a run in the Celtic side to show what he could do following his summer move from Rugby Park, he has seized the opportunity afforded to him of late with both hands.
He turned in a highly impressive showing in the win over Hearts in midweek, earning praise from his manager Neil Lennon, who had publicly spoken about Taylor’s need to improve his attacking attributes earlier in the season to nail down a place in the team.
“It’s good when your gaffer says nice things about you – it’s better than abuse!” he said. “I’m only kidding.
“But we just need to park that performance and focus on Aberdeen this weekend, which is one we’re all looking forward to.
“Getting another couple of assists was helpful for me as well because people – mainly in the media - have been questioning my attacking play: ‘Can he do it or not?’ but what I want to be doing in that wing-back role is create goals while keeping the door shut at the other end.
“I wouldn’t say that this is a new side to the way I play, it’s just that you get more of the ball playing for a club of this size – we tend to dominate possession and you’re under the spotlight because you’re on the ball more often.
“I’m well aware that I came here from Kilmarnock, which is a more defensive team, and I knew that I had improvements to make to both the attacking and defensive aspects of my game.
“That’s why I stay behind every day to work on, for example, crossing drills. It’s all about repetition, repletion, repetition because you know that you will improve by doing that – it’s all about repetition, repetition, repetition and, thankfully, there have been a few assists since I came back into the side.
“There are still many improvements to be made but if I continue working hard on the training ground and keep getting games then I’m hoping to keep showing what I can do.”
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