I’ve long thought the SPFL best player of the year award is nothing but a jinx. Celtic have had a player win the award 8 times out of the last ten years. That’s a lot of jinx.
Izaguirre signed a four year contract with Celtic in 2010, since then he has pretty much owned the number 3 jersey after a long line of failed attempts to get a player to own the left back position. In his first season he was a revelation and quickly became a fans favourite. The 28 year old has played 130 times for the hoops and after his first season he got player of the year. The start of the next season seeing him bow out early with an ankle injury which pretty much ended that campaign for him.
Izzy has never looked the same since that injury that is until this season were he looks to be back to his best, I don’t have any access to stats but I doubt there is another player in the league this season that puts in more yards then Izzy over 90 minutes. He seems to be involved in Celtic’s goals every game they play. No matter who he has been paired off with on the left wing he seems to have an understanding with them and doesn’t take any time to gel, he has become predictable in getting forward, beating anything in front of him and whipping in crosses.
Every league game this season he has made himself a contender for man of the match with the amount of effort he puts in getting up and down his flank. He is waltzing through defenders week in week out and most opposition defenders looked like they have made no plans for his runs and crosses.
Craig Gordon stole the early season headlines with some top drawer performances and these performances where highlighted even more giving his time out of the game. Izzy looks like he has his head back in the game and long may it continue, Adam Matthews replicated Izzy yesterday out on the right and Celtic reaped the rewards from it, it might be our wing backs that are going to give the likes of Inter Milan a headache next month.
So here’s hoping his form continues, but no end of year awards please.
