Celtic defender Cameron Carter-Vickers is enjoying playing beside Liam Scales at the moment and has lauded his teammate’s mentality for coming back from an almost certain Bhoys exit.
After spending time on loan at Aberdeen last year and with the Pittodrie club looking to re-sign him over the summer, Scales looked destined to be leaving Celtic during the transfer window.
However, injuries to several first-team defenders catapulted him up the pecking order and provided him with a big chance to impress manager Brendan Rodgers. It’s fair to say he’s taken it.
Cameron Carter-Vickers on Liam Scales
For Carter-Vickers, it’s his mentality and work ethic that has shone through. He said [Celtic FC]: “Liam has done really well. I think from the mentality that he went to Aberdeen last season and probably didn’t think he was going to be at Celtic this season. However from day one in pre-season he came in and worked hard and he’s been ready. He’s waited on his opportunity and he has taken it and he is playing really well.
“That’s the most impressive thing about it, in my opinion. The fact that maybe three or four months ago he thought that his Celtic career was over and now he’s got his chance and he showed that he was mentally ready to take it and mentally ready to perform at the levels that he has.”
Wednesday night’s heavy defeat would have been especially hard to take for the defensive unit. They pride themselves on not conceding and shipping six goals can’t have been easy, even though there were mitigating circumstances.
Rodgers is likely to persist with Scales and Carter-Vickers as a pairing for now. Consistency in that position can be a real strength and there haven’t been signs that Maik Nawrocki, Nat Phillips or Gustaf Lagerbielke will be shifting the Irishman any time soon.
Standards have to remain high though. Scales needs to bounce back from the Madrid mauling and show he can put setbacks like that one behind him. Given Carter-Vickers’ faith in his mentality, he’s likely to do just that.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers provides big injury hope for December Celtic clash vs Rangers.
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