Matt O'Riley shares Celtic truth with Brighton & Hove Albion fans

Matt O'Riley has not had the easiest time since leaving Celtic. He ended up suffering an injury on his first appearance for Brighton & Hove Albion. It was only recently that he made his return to the pitch, but he did that in some fashion. On his Premier League debut, coming on as a substitute against Manchester City, he scored a late winner for the Seagulls.

Naturally, that has raised expectations around O'Riley further. After all, he joined Brighton & Hove for a Scottish-record transfer fee.

O'Riley is used to playing under high expectations. That comes with the territory when you represent Celtic, where the expectation is to win every game and even a draw feels like the end of the world.

That is something that a lot of people might not realise down south. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, O'Riley told the official Brighton & Hove Albion podcast:

"I think respectfully, the pressures of playing at Celtic are, for most people, unimaginable. It’s not easy to win every game of football, regardless of who you’re playing against.

“If you’ve got 11 men behind the ball who are well organized, sometimes it’s tough to score. And the longer the game goes on, the anxiety builds up in the crowd. You need to learn to be able to, again, accept that.

“But also just somehow block it out and stay focused. And to do that every single game is really tiring, you know, like mentally and physically to sustain it as well."

Matt O'Riley shares Celtic truth with Brighton & Hove Albion fans

This is something that Celtic players do not get enough credit for. It must be very tiring to have to go out with the expectation of winning every three days.

It is not like opposition teams make it easy for them either. More often than not, at least in domestic games, it becomes a matter of finding a way past low blocks, where their opponents are happy to have every man behind the ball.

Of course, O'Riley showed that he was capable of thriving at a club like Celtic. He was without a doubt, the Hoops' best player last season.

That mantle seems to have been taken up by Nicolas Kuhn this season. He is performing at a very high level, not just in Scotland but in Europe as well. And that has seen him being linked with a move to the Premier League as well.