Gustaf Lagerbielke has had a jam-packed start to life at Celtic, and it may have been far more than he initially expected when he signed from Elfsborg back in August.
Whether it be media conference after media conference or starting every game possible since his arrival, the big Swede has taken it all in his stride. His impressive start to life at Celtic has resulted in another call-up to the Swedish national squad after racking up two clean sheets in three games since he joined.
Early pressure
As previously mentioned, Lagerbielke was thrown into the deep-end at Celtic due to an injury crisis that has been hampering the squad over the last few weeks.
He wasn’t signed to be a first-choice centre-back after all. Maik Nawrocki was the player signed to fill the void created by Carl Starfelt’s departure to join Rafa Benitez at Celta Vigo.
Lagerbielke wasn’t afforded the luxury of playing alongside the defensive colossus that is Cameron Carter-Vickers in his first few games as he was partnered by the aforementioned Nawrocki at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock, where Celtic exited the Viaplay Cup at the second round stage. Lagerbielke had a solid enough performance on the day with his defensive partner Nawrocki being the one who received most of the blame for Kilmarnock’s winner.
Nawrocki got injured in the latter stages of the Rugby Park defeat meaning Celtic cast-off Liam Scales was the man to partner Lagerbielke for the visit of St Johnstone to Celtic Park. Much like the game against Kilmarnock, the Swede looked solid and assured in his passing although relatively untested defensively. Whenever the Saints looked like causing any sort of problem for the Celtic backline, it was coming through errors from Liam Scales.
A poor few performances from the team as a whole had fans fearing for the worst when Celtic took the trip across the city to Ibrox to take on Rangers.
Good performance at Ibrox
Lagerbielke, as well as his defensive partner Liam Scales (player-of-the-match on the day), both put in phenomenal performances as they rose to the occasion and showed the fight and grit required to take a hard-fought three points away from Ibrox.
Lagerbielke was brilliant at winning the aerial duels when Rangers piled on the pressure as they went in search of an equaliser. Despite a nervy moment in the first half where he was almost punished for dilly-dallying on the ball, The 23-year-old looked composed and assured as he often popped up as the last man to stick a foot in to prevent a big opportunity,
What might the future hold
A Celtic State of Mind highlighted on the blog a few weeks back that there would be a lot of pressure on Lagerbielke to grab the current opportunities presenting themselves to him and he has been putting in assured displays in each game he has played so far.
With Nat Phillips, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki all expected back from injury and providing further competition for the starting berth at centre-back, the Swede is doing a good job at staking his claim for that position.
JAMES MCKENZIE
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