The Celtic gaffer was happy with last night's Co-operative Insurance cup win over Livingston and even happier with the style by which the 4-0 victory was accomplished. Although it was a game Celtic were expected to win easily the fact that they did it with aplomb was pleasing for the manager "It's not easy to find consistency in terms of entertaining football," he said. "It's easier to get results than it is performances, but the performances are coming along with the results at the moment."
Georgios Samaras has hit a rich vein of form since making his move to Celtic permanent in the summer and with another two goals last night to bring his total to nine in his last six games he is well on his way to becoming the first name down on his manager's team-sheet every week.
The boss himself is very pleased with the striker he regards as a star pupil "I don't know if he is at the top of his game but I hope he's not. He wants to do a lot better." he said "You are talking about a guy who literally can't get enough information. When you talk to him, you can tell in his eyes that he wants to do better. We do set-plays and you can guarantee that two players will forget but he never forgets anything, he actually tells them where to go so he is listening to everything that we say."
"At the moment he's playing some top, top football" said the manager "although he was helped by a lot of the good players in the team tonight. For an attacking player, it helps if the team is doing well but he's doing a lot for himself."
But lest the fans should get too carried away with their new hero the boss urged caution "You judge people by the end of their contract. Sometimes we get too excited right away and we get too negative right away. We should wait until the end of the season."
Strachan was also impressed by Aiden McGeady's performance and, despite press rumours of a rift between the two following McGeady's recent relegation to the bench, he was effusive in his praise of the winger " He did everything but score and that run he went on was truly fantastic. I was right behind him and, at the last moment, the ball just moved a bit. It would have been great for him to score a goal as well, but he must be really pleased with his performance."