Celtic assistant boss John Collins singles out Kris Commons for praise
Friday 18 September 2015 18:47, UK
Celtic assistant boss John Collins has singled out Kris Commons for praise after the midfielder produced an eye-catching display in the Amsterdam ArenA on Thursday evening.
Collins believes the 2-2 draw against Ajax in the Europa League will have done 'wonders' for the players' confidence ahead of Sunday's Premiership match against Dundee.
Commons celebrated his first start in Europe this season by setting up Nir Bitton for the opening goal before his corner found Mikael Lustig for Celtic's second.
The former Hibernian boss said: "Kris came into the team and was terrific. He did his defensive duties very well and again had the magic in and around the opponents' box.
"He came up with the goods, an excellent pass for the first goal and his deliveries at set-pieces were 10 out of 10. He was a big performer for us. Everyone knows he missed the pre-season with his toe injury.
"So you can't play if you are not fit and he wasn't fit at the start of the season but you can see now he is getting his sharpness and his touch back. That's good news for us.
"In and around the opponent's box there's nobody more dangerous. He can shoot with both feet, he can play the killer passes. We know what Kris can do when he is fit."
Collins believes the result will have helped restore confidence to the side as they look to get back to winning ways against Dundee at Celtic Park following last weekend's 2-1 defeat against Aberdeen.
He said: "I was very happy. I thought we bounced back well. It does wonders, a good performance and good result. That's what brings back the confidence.
"I think maybe confidence had dropped a little bit but as the game went on I think you could see the confidence coming back into the players and there were a lot of very good performances against a very good team.
"We got the balance right defensively and as the game went on I thought we grew into it, our passing got better and we created chances away from home. Overall, very pleased.
"We had a little dip and we want to follow last night's performance up with another good performance on Sunday."
