Celtic’s Callum McGregor was enjoying added freedom on the pitch

Callum McGregor has loved being let off the leash by Celtic.

Deployed as a midfield anchor in the old 4-2-3-1 system, the Hoops vice-captain has been given freedom to express his attacking flair since Neil Lennon has switched to a back three.

That has allowed him to grab 13 goals in 2019-20, a tally that, even with the campaign still unfinished, surpasses his previous efforts.

It has been a significant contribution to Celtic’s success this season.

“In terms of goals, I was really enjoying that spell after Christmas where we’d changed the system,” said McGregor.

“That allowed me, Ryan Christie, Ollie Ntcham or Tom Rogic to go forward a little bit more.

“I was getting into goalscoring positions and hit a nice wee purple patch in terms of getting goals. I was feeling good, feeling fit and influencing games, which is what I want to do.

“The volume of goals we were scoring was a combination of the form we were on, the fitness of the players and the system.

“The change in system allowed us a bit more freedom in terms of going forward because we had the three in front and one behind to try and secure it. That gave us more numbers going forward.

“The gaffer felt like we had become a bit pedestrian going forward in terms of scraping 1-0s and things like that.

“He wanted more of a focus on the counter-attack so that when we won the ball and it was in transition, boys would take off straight away and we’d get runners going beyond.

“He refocused us in that regard to be a bit more ruthless.

“The goals have been a combination of more bodies and a hunger and willingness to get forward quickly.

“That’s why you saw the numbers go up.”

Speaking to the Celtic View, McGregor added: “The boys have been absolutely excellent since the turn of the year. We put in some good displays and racked up some good scorelines as well.

“Everyone arrived back from Dubai fresh and hungry. We took off at a relentless pace, and momentum is a massive thing in football and we had that in abundance.

“We probably didn’t imagine we’d be this far in front, but we had to set the pace and beat who was in front of us.”