An old professor once told me that “days are long, years are short” and I’ve never forgotten that phrase nearly 10 years later.

That line couldn’t be more true for Alistair Johnston‘s stint at Celtic so far. He made his club debut about three months ago in an Old Firm derby at Ibrox against Rangers when he was arguably man of the match.

Fourteen games later, Johnston came full circle on Saturday as Celtic welcomed their fierce rivals to Celtic Park. The league leaders emerged victorious in a 3-2 win, with the Canadian full-back claiming official man of the match honours.

Overall, Celtic weren’t at their best – several unnecessary misplaced passes and giveaways kept Rangers in the game – and Johnston certainly had his blips. He completed a season-low 40 of 51 passes but apart from a few rare lapses, he was immense on both sides of the ball.

As early as the fifth minute, Johnston was breaking high presses, hustling up the pitch and delivering terrific crosses into the box – only for his fantastic assist to be wiped out by VAR.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, the Aurora native pulled this one out of his hat, too.

Anyone who has watched Johnston is aware of his comfort playing on the right side of a back three or as an inverted full-back. The latter is important because it sets up triangles involving the right-sided midfielder and the right winger. Usually, Johnston finds the midfielder, who hits a first-time pass to the winger while Johnston underlaps or overlaps with the winger.

The first GIF highlights it to a degree, but the sequence below is the usual M.O. Unfortunately, Mooy and others were mishitting those outlets to the winger all afternoon.

Regardless, it’s why Johnston is so integral to Celtic’s buildup and explains the high volume of passes involving those two players.

Alistair Johnston’s passing network vs. Rangers

But it doesn’t matter what opponents throw at Johnston. He’ll always know the right pass before the ball rolls to him. That’s a testament to both Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou’s system and the Canadian’s cerebral nature.

We can’t forget about Johnston’s defensive solidity, either. He was relentless on that right flank against Ryan Kent and Malik Tillman.

However, Johnston’s struggles in the air continued. Alfredo Morelos had a goal chalked off for a foul on Johnston early in the game but the defender lost a very similar duel in the second half as well.

Rangers’ second goal from a James Tavernier header was the result of Celtic’s poor defensive setup, but it’s fair to wonder if Johnston would’ve lost the duel anyways because he’s especially susceptible on back-post crosses.

Despite those small hiccups, it was another sensational game from Johnston in a marquee match. It might’ve only been his 15th appearance, but it feels like he’s been there for ages.

OTHER NOTABLE UPDATES AND ANALYSIS

• We all know Alphonso Davies has a tremendous impact in the final third. But one area where he was struggling during his brief dip in form was progressing the ball from his own third against a team’s high press. He’d often mishit passes or lose the ball on the dribble and concede dangerous counter-attacking opportunities.

It’s safe to say that’s in the past because he’s far more poised in this area, as exhibited in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Freiburg.

Jonathan David did everything but score on Saturday against Angers in a narrow 1-0 loss.

Generating 0.51 expected goals (xG) from three shots and not scoring? That’s a rare tough day at the office.

• Even with a new coach at Real Valladolid, Cyle Larin stayed in the lineup in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Mallorca. He also played the role of hero and villain.

Larin was the hero initially after setting up Selim Amallah’s equalizer (scrub to :58 of the highlight pack).

But having taken the lead, Larin handled the ball in the box and allowed Mallorca to equalize at the death via the penalty spot.

It was still a solid outing for Larin, though, as he produced two key passes, two shots and 0.25 xG.

• Club Brugge’s new coach, Rik De Mil, has moved Tajon Buchanan into a left wingback role in the last two games which reminds us of a season-long dilemma.

To Scott Parker’s credit, he regularly slotted Buchanan into the front three. Unfortunately, far too much emphasis on a direct style of play and individual moments of brilliance meant that the Canadian was shackled. When he managed to get on the ball, the quality was apparent. It just wasn’t a regular occurrence.

Buchanan does accept part of the blame as well. He’s had glorious opportunities to bolster his goals and assists, only to flub the opportunities. The underlying numbers as a winger highlight that lack of influence in the final third compared to his outstanding 2021 campaign with the New England Revolution.

Last season’s numbers aren’t much better, either. The only slight differences are a small increase in shots and touches in the box.

It begs the question, then, why marquee clubs are interested in Buchanan. The attributes that attracted Club Brugge aren’t on display every week, so why would they be willing to sign him?

The answer is simple. Buchanan as a wingback is still a menace when he starts from deep and gets into the box.

If Buchanan joins one of the Serie A giants, for example, they’d utilize his best qualities and keep him in the same role without this constant rotation.

• FC Porto aren’t going down without a fight in the Primeira Liga title race. They came from behind to beat Benfica 2-1 and moved within seven points of the Portuguese league leaders. Stephen Eustáquio was a second-half substitute, recording 35 minutes in Friday’s victory.

Despite the brief appearance, Eustáquio made his presence felt. He was getting stuck in with regularity and providing some beautiful line-breaking passes under pressure.

He also set up a beautiful sequence that was well-saved by Benfica goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Eustáquio’s willingness to stop attacking transitions for Benfica was especially crucial. This is one of his most underrated qualities, and the ability to think a couple of steps ahead is one reason why he’s so important to the national team.

• The March window will be remembered as Ismaël Koné‘s breakthrough for the national team. There’s no doubt that he was fantastic on the ball in both matches, especially the Honduras game.

Koné routinely channelled his inner Junior Hoilett by progressing the ball through tight space, made darting runs into the box and impacted the games in the final third.

Defensively, Koné had a lot of room growth after leaving CF Montréal and there has been a significant bump in his defensive numbers compared to last season.

But that doesn’t mean Koné can’t fine-tune some of the smaller details on the defensive side. Recognition of where to position himself in defensive transition moments is a big one.

Under Chris Wilder, Koné has been deployed in a more offensive role which means fewer defensive responsibilities. But with Canada, Koné was a box-to-box midfielder and there are still moments when an attacking midfielder has to fill in the gaps.

Here’s Huddersfield Town’s first goal on Friday. Clearly, several Watford players are all over the shop so Koné is hardly blameless. But there are open gaps that Koné could’ve covered if he recognized them sooner.

Due to his remarkable rise, it’s easy to forget that Koné is still very raw. He has 56 games of experience for club and country as a professional player. Those intricacies will be corrected with time.

• As we look ahead to a busy summer for the Canadian men, Mo Farsi could be a staple for the team at the Gold Cup. Johnston has played a lot of minutes, so he might be sacrificed in order to make way for other fringe players, which means Farsi could bolster the right wingback depth.

Whether he was buoyed after missing out on the March squad, Farsi got right back to work by notching his second assist of the season in the Columbus Crew’s win over D.C. United.

It’s only a matter of time…

• The Seattle Sounders sent St. Louis back down to earth with a humbling 3-0 win, with Kyle Hiebert starting in the loss.

Even still, you can’t knock Hiebert’s defensive effort. He was pretty immense in helping St. Louis hold off Seattle for as long as they did.

By now, everyone is aware of my fondness for Victor Loturi. He didn’t receive any minutes in the March window but this was likely more of a learning experience ahead of a busy summer. I reckon the Gold Cup will be Loturi’s opportunity to spread his wings.

The March window seemingly had a positive impact on Loturi because he was solid against Celtic last week. His main task was marking Callum McGregor, the engine of the team, and he was excellent at ensuring McGregor didn’t turn into space and progress the ball. It’s usually much easier said than done.

Loturi was a machine out there. He constantly closed down space, progressed the ball through Celtic’s high press and provided outlets to teammates all game long.

Bring on the Gold Cup!

• The Swedish Allsvenskan season began this month, with Derek Cornelius making his league debut for Malmö after a dominant March window for Canada.

With two appearances (and two wins) under his belt, you can see that Cornelius is full of confidence. He’s a much calmer distributor, as exhibited in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Brommapojkarna.

Another area where Cornelius thrived in Nations League was his counter-pressing and willingness to roam further up the pitch. That aided Canada’s efforts in stopping the opponent’s transitional moments. Suffice it to say that’s been carried into Malmö, too.

So, too, has the awareness and reading of the game.

Meanwhile, the tenacity – even after an error is committed – guides Cornelius in some rocky situations.

Sounds like we have a left-sided centre-back dilemma for June.

Marco Bustos officially debuted for IFK Värnamo last week in a 1-0 victory over Goteborg as a right wingback, although he was really more of a winger. In fact, Bustos (No. 19) was Värnamo’s most advanced player.

Varnamo’s passing network vs. Goteborg.

There were some flashes of Bustos’ technique and pace in this one. He set up one shot and looked pretty comfortable bursting down the right wing.

The only change I want to see is Bustos charging into the box more. That was his specialty in the CPL and one of many reasons why he was one of the league’s best players.

Charles-Andreas Brym really surprised me during the March camp. For starters, he’s bulked up and that’ll serve him well when he returns to Sparta Rotterdam. Brym was often outmuscled in one-on-one duels during his brief stint in the Dutch top flight, but given how he fared in the Curacao match and in training, he won’t be knocked off the ball as easily next time.

In training, Brym kept pace with the other strikers in terms of his pressing, the hold-up play, runs and other phases of play. Even his attitude was top drawer. Not only was Brym friendly with everyone, he was always one of the first players who’d ask me when the day’s training session or a match would be available to watch.

Then we witness Brym move up to 11 goals and six assists for FC Eindhoven and it’s so obvious that he’s ready for a step up in league quality.

The fact Brym has the focus and the drive will only aid him in claiming a place in Sparta’s squad in the pre-season.

• Out of nowhere, Justin Smith has received an increase in playing time with Quevilly-Rouen in Ligue 2. He had 10 minutes off the bench in Saturday’s win versus Caen, but he started the previous match against Rodez.

To those who are leaning on Smith being the saviour for Canada’s centre-back depth, you’ll be slightly disappointed. Just like at the U-20 Championship, the 20-year-old has been deployed in midfield for QRM in both matches.

Regardless, there were plenty of positive signs from the Rodez match. What stood out about Smith with Canada’s U-20s was his poise, composure and defensive acumen. All three traits were on display here.

It was difficult considering the waterlogged pitch but if Smith gets regular minutes at this level next season, he could blossom into a legitimate option for Canada before Copa America in 2024.