James Forrest receiving plaudits not only from Brendan Rodgers but Celtic fans

It’s one of numerous plaudits the Celtic winger’s outstanding form has received this season that puts him as the frontrunner to land player of the year.

Perhaps the most important praise Saturday’s hat-trick hero is receiving though is the acclaim of the Celtic fans.

It’s almost impossible to imagine the transition Forrest has undergone.

Because it’s almost two years to the week that former Celtic manager Ronny Deila announced that Forrest had turned down “a very good offer” of a contract extension and that the winger would be leaving.

Forget acclaim, the Forrest news was greeted with a resounding round of shrugs.

A player once bracketed with a £10 million price tag to ward off interest from Tottenham Hotspur had become the whipping boy of the Celtic support.

“Infuriating” and “most frustrating player in the team” were some of the less expletive-strewn phrases. “Poor man’s Aiden McGeady” one of the harsher.

Deila questioned injury-plagued Forrest’s fitness following a series of muscle ailments and claimed the winger had been “out for 550 days in the last four years”.

Forrest had actually however made 32 appearances at that point of the 2015/16 campaign, breaking the 30-mark for the first time in four seasons, though 14 of them had been as a substitute.

Between then and early August 2016 when he signed a new three-year contract extension under Rodgers, Forrest made just a single, solitary appearance. And it was in the depths of the Deila days, when the Norwegian threw the Scottish international on as a half-time substitute in a turgid 0-0 draw against Dundee in early March at Parkhead that saw Celtic’s lead at the top of the table cut to just four points. Forrest, like the rest of the Celtic players that night, was booed off at the final whistle.

Nowadays? Boos have turned to the loudest of cheers.

Indeed, forget McGeady, the Celtic fans hardly even miss their beloved Patrick Roberts being out injured Forrest has gone from strength to strength so much.

What Rodgers means by Forrest being one of the best receivers of the ball he has ever seen was exemplified by the 26-year-old’s second and third goals in the 3-2 William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round win at Parkhead over Partick Thistle on Saturday.

The second, to put Celtic two up after 10 minutes, saw him take the flick-on from Mikael Lustig’s overhead clearance on the halfway line and instantaneously turn with the ball, twisting away from the Partick Thistle players in front of him. The composure to check himself at the edge of the box and then reverse the shot into the left corner, rather than curl it into the far corner, was exquisite.

The third, accepting a cut-back from Scott Sinclair to claim his treble and the match-ball, showed tremendous awareness of where he was positioned in relation to the goal and the surrounding Partick Thistle defenders. The manner in which he manoeuvred his body weight and sorted his feet to allow the flick with the outside of the boot to enable the successful shot into the net was absolute class.

And speaking of outside of the foot, the opener may have just looked like a tap-in following Moussa Dembele’s shot being blocked, but Forrest is making tremendous use of scoring with that part of the body. Defenders are having to be doubly aware because Forrest now has the ability to cut in from the right and curl with his left foot into the far corner or shoot seconds earlier with the outside of his right.

With goals, 16 of them now this season, added to assists, Forrest’s form could indeed see him crowned player of the year.

“He’s got such a low centre of gravity and change of pace and really good finishes,” enthused Partick Thistle’s Ryan Edwards.

The Australian added: “He’s proved he’s a good player the last few seasons since Brendan Rodgers came in. He does fantastic. He’s just a good player.”

But it’s perhaps just as well he is considering the performances of what’s behind him in defence.

Jozo Simunovic may be a cult hero with the Celtic fans for sticking Kenny Miller in the air at Ibrox last season, but their heart rates are now going nearly as high as the Rangers striker did whenever the defender gets the ball.

Woefully short with his pass back to gift Kris Doolan and Partick Thistle a lifeline back into Saturday’s cup tie, he was also responsible for shoddily giving the ball away in the build-up to Conor Sammon dragging the score to 3-2. And don’t forget him getting him away with standing on the ball and nearly letting Doolan in again just before half-time.

With Dedryck Boyata almost certainly out of Thursday’s UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg at Parkhead against Zenit St Petersburg, Rodgers has to seriously ask whether the bigger gamble is playing new signing Jack Hendry, who was cup-tied on Saturday, alongside Kristoffer Ajer at the heart of the Celtic defence, or the increasingly calamity-prone Simunovic.

Regardless, Zenit will undoubtedly ask questions of the fragile Celtic defence both on Thursday and in the return leg a week later in Russia.

The answer is perhaps the old Celtic philosophy – one seemingly endorsed by Rodgers throughout his career too – of turning defence into attack.

Giving the ball to Forrest, not just for the attacking threat and the potential for him to create and score goals but also to take the ball up the pitch and give the defence a much-needed breather, could prove vital.

And with that, it’s imperative confidence-high Forrest keeps demanding the ball from his team-mates.

Because quite simply when it comes to Forrest in this form, ask and ye shall receive.