All strikers are confidence players, really, and I’m sure Faissal El Bakhtaoui is no different.
After seeing him close up in Martyn Fotheringham’s testimonial last week, I can confirm that he definitely looks to be a forward in the right mood.
I was very impressed.
He was really sharp. It was great to see.
The goal he scored against Celtic was a stunning strike and Paul Hartley will be tempted to give him his chance from the start against Aberdeen tomorrow night.
It was a big jump from League One with Dunfermline to the Premiership and it’s no great surprise that he’s not been a regular in his first season in the top flight.
But he clearly has talent and he’ll be chomping at the bit to get a run now.
Aberdeen are in great form but I think Dundee have got a decent chance under the lights at Dens.
Win, and they’re in with a real shout of making the top six.
* The big talking point over the next few weeks will be – will Scott Brown play against England?
My gut feeling is yes he will.
He probably has to make his mind up soon so that he and Brendan Rodgers can make a plan for the next few months.
Celtic are in such a strong position that the league will be over very soon, probably this weekend.
So Brendan and Scott have the option of taking him out of the team from time to time in the last couple of months of the campaign.
Squad rotation at Celtic is nothing new.
Scott is the type of boy who wants to play every week and he’s still young enough to do that. But that doesn’t mean he has to.
Scott will know that we were in the game at Wembley and that beating them at Hampden in June isn’t as far-fetched as people south of the border might think.
He’ll probably retire if he thinks qualifying hopes are over but that certainly isn’t the case just now.
After a slow start, we’re right back in it. Second place is there for the taking.
You could see how fired up Scott was in the Slovenia game and I think the appeal of another clash with England will be too great to resist.
* I’m not too sure whether the Scotland fans booing Chris Martin were directing their jeers at the player or Gordon Strachan.
Either way, I felt sorry for Martin.
Somebody getting booed on isn’t something I can remember happening too often in my career.
It doesn’t look good – especially for the national team.
I’m sure it won’t happen again, though. Everybody will be pulling together when England come to Glasgow.
* Now that I’m back at Arbroath until the end of the season it looks like I’m going to be involved in an exciting run-in.
The way results were going at the weekend we were on course to go top of the league on goal difference until we lost a late goal to Montrose.
Forfar had a big lead and appear to be rocking a bit now. It’s up to us to really put the pressure on them by winning all our remaining games.
