It has been a mixed start to the international break for many Celtic players.
Whilst the likes of Reo Hatate don’t even make the Japan squad and Alistair Johnston suffers Concacaf Nations League semi-final heartache with Canada, it’s a different story altogether for Anthony Ralston and Scotland.
Johnston is Celtic’s starting right-back, and throughout this Treble-chasing campaign under Brendan Rodgers, he has been the main guy and the regular pick.
Even if the games are coming thick and fast for Celtic, Johnston has kept his place and Ralston has had to watch on.
In that sense, it’s not helpful to Ralston’s sharpness, match fitness and ability to perform on the pitch because he has only played 551 minutes of Premiership football this term.
That’s less minutes than what he is getting with Scotland under Steve Clarke and, amazingly enough, his performances levels haven’t dropped, and that’s credit to the player.
Hugh Keevins was keen to give the 26-year-old his flowers and talk about how he is treated by some of the Celtic Park faithful.
Hugh Keevins on Anthony Ralston being a ‘whipping boy’ at Celtic
That fullback spot has always been a talking point at Celtic, whether you look towards your left or your right.
From Ralston to Greg Taylor, they sure do divide opinion, but Keevins wanted to note how the former is a ‘whipping boy’ with his fanbase.
After Scotland beat Greece 1-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Nations A/B play-off tie, Keevins stated that Ralston showed ‘moral courage’ with his performance, as he told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard.
“But Anthony Ralston, if we are discussing individuals, was a story of moral courage, for me,” said Keevins.
“He is always the whipping boy at Celtic. If anything goes wrong, then it’s Anthony Ralston’s fault, but he has hung in there, likewise Scotland.
“If I was Anthony Ralston. I will be saying to myself, ‘well, they can say what they like. But Brendan Rodgers doesn’t want to get rid of me. Steve Clarke doesn’t want to get rid of me’.
“He has nothing to reproach himself about, but we come back to it, we are 1-0 up and they have some tidy players. The tie isn’t over yet. It’s going to be a terrific spectacle at Hampden. Five O’Clock on Sunday.”
Should Ralston start ahead of Alistair Johnston for Celtic?
Johnston was abject against Rangers last time out and many believe that was his worst performance since moving to Celtic.
Does that warrant him being dropped? Probably not, because many other players were at fault and many more had off days.
But this isn’t the first time Celtic are conceding that many goals and perhaps Rodgers should re-shape things up at the back.
Ralston hasn’t played much this season, but when he has, you can’t fault what he is putting on the table for his boyhood club.
| Tournament | Apps | Mins | Goals | Assists | MotM | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premiership | 5(7) | 551 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.80 |
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