Arthur's Column // 31st January 2023

Michael Beale was spot on when he said that there is still a long way to go to get the tram to where it needs to be.

He made those comments after the 2-0 win against St Johnstone on Saturday.

With Saints down to 10 men, we should have won more comfortably but we missed good chances and their goalkeeper had a brilliant game.

It was nice to see Todd Cantwell make his debut. He looked very accomplished in the middle of the park. He will be an asset, for sure.

And for Ianis Hagi to make his comeback after a year on the sidelines with cruciate damage was just brilliant.

Just about every footballer has a long-term injury to recover from at some stage during their career and you need to be made of strong stuff to recover.

Ianis clearly has the bottle and he will be feeling on top of the world right now. He is a highly talented footballer and is a match winner on any given day.

But his introduction to the first team on a regular basis must be a slow one. No risks can be taken.

That's why I wouldn't expect him to be in thick of it at Hearts on Wednesday night. But maybe Ross County at Ibrox on Saturday would be ideal.

It's important to keep the unbeaten run going under Michael and to keep biting away at Celtic's heels.

Tynecastle is always a tough venue to go to but we have had some very good results in recent seasons against them, including the Scottish Cup Final victory last May.

Overall, I think we are making progress and we will see the exact shape of the squad in the next 24 hours.

We have many, many important games on the horizon and we need to win as many as we can.

There is strong competition for places on key areas of the pitch and that is always a positive.

Players know they need to work hard to get into the team and then produce the good when they do.

We are now at a stage of the season where we need to be at our very best. I feel we are in a good place just now and will get better.