Brendan Rodgers made one change against Aberdeen from Celtic’s win over St Mirren on Flag Day.
To be honest, it wasn’t a surprising one because James Forrest came in for Hyunjun Yang, with Celtic’s most decorated player of all-time starting on the right flank, and Alistair Johnston behind him at right-back.
Celtic went on to beat Aberdeen 2-0 at Pittodrie on Sunday, with both players producing strong performances and helping the champions of Scotland maintain their 100% start to the new Premiership season.
But Willie Miller noticed an issue with Johnston when he bombs forward for the Hoops.
Alistair Johnston and James Forrest on Celtic’s right wing
Johnston has been one of Celtic’s most consistent players following his transfer to the club from MLS side CF Montréal in 2023.
The Canadian international is a well-balanced fullback, but Miller thinks his positioning and decision-making, when going forward, is problematic for someone like Forrest.
The Aberdeen legend, whilst speaking to BBC Radio Scotland (10/08/25), questioned why Johnston ‘goes into the space’ that his teammate wants to take up.
“I always think, when James Forrest gets the ball, and Alistair Johnston goes into the space that Forrest wants to occupy,” said Miller.
“Why does he do that?”
Johnston’s stats for Celtic against Aberdeen
Aside from that small issue with Johnston, it was another strong display from Celtic’s starting right-back, who played 88 minutes at Pittodrie.
With Celtic short in numbers on the flanks, perhaps what the supporters see with Forrest and Johnston is what they are going to see regularly in these coming weeks and months.
But either way, it was another strong display from Johnston, and WhoScored rated his performance at above seven.
- Shots: 1
- Passes: 74
- Passing Accuracy: 87.8%
- Crosses: 3
- Accurate crosses: 1
- Accurate Long Balls: 1
- Aerials won: 2
- Total tackles: 2
- Interceptions: 1
- Clearances: 2
- Touches: 96
- Fouled: 2
- Rating: 7.25
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