Celtic fringe player with more touches than Callum McGregor repaid Rodgers’ faith vs Dundee United

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There weren’t many positives to take from Celtic’s draw with Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership this weekend.

Celtic fans were not happy with some players’ performances as Brendan Rodgers named a Hoops starting eleven that was a shadow of the team that has blown Scottish football away.

Celtic struggled at Tannadice as the fringe players who were given the nod huffed and puffed against Dundee United and failed to break them down.

However, there was one Celtic player who was given the nod to start against Dundee United who didn’t let Rodgers down despite the disappointment of the Tayside stalemate.

Stephen Welsh gets pass marks in Celtic’s draw vs Dundee United

Stephen Welsh was given his first league start of the season for Celtic against Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United and unlike some in the team, he didn’t let Brendan Rodgers down.

Rated at 8.2 by Fotmob, Welsh was the football ratings site’s star man after he put in a solid 90 minutes in the City of Discovery.

With 165 touches of the ball which was more than Callum McGregor who got 110, Welsh had a passing accuracy of 96% out of 156 passes.

Now, many fans might think much of that was down to Celtic’s recycling of the ball but, in fact, the former Scotland U21 defender made 20 passes into United’s final third, had 100% long ball accuracy and created two chances as well as having a shot on goal.

Welsh also had two touches in Dundee United’s penalty box and was fouled once as he helped Celtic try to unlock their defence.

At the back, the 24-year-old was solid as he made five defensive actions, four clearances, an interception, seven ball recoveries and won four out of his six duels.

A very decent performance by Welsh who was thrown into a Celtic backline that had only one first-choice defender in it.

Stephen Welsh’s all-time Celtic record

Welsh is a player who has been at Celtic since his youth days when he appeared in the development squad in 2017.

Since then he has made just 68 appearances in the Hoops’ first-team as he finds it difficult to make his mark against the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Chris Jullien and Carl Sterfelt before him.

The Scot has also scored four goals which includes a Europa League strike when Celtic beat Real Betis in 2021.

However, against United Welsh has shown himself to be a player who Rodgers can rely upon should another selection crisis hit Celtic between now and the end of the season.

Whether or not he can carve out regular spot is one thing but what Welsh did on Sunday was prove that Rodgers was correct to offer him a new deal last summer as one of Celtic’s backup players.