Liam Scales has been absolved of any blame for his red card against England after the Celtic defender’s recent error caused a Republic of Ireland Wembley collapse.
Scales was sent off against England after clipping Jude Bellingham in the Republic of Ireland penalty box after the match referee considered the foul to be a second bookable offence.
The Republic of Ireland camp wasn’t too happy with the decision to send off Scales after England took full advantage of the extra man and knocked five past Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side.
And whilst all the media attention is focused on the Celtic defender, an Irish pundit has said he doesn’t blame Scales and points the finger squarely to one of his teammates for leaving him exposed to an England counter-attack.
Republic of Ireland teammate left Liam Scales exposed to Jude Bellingham
Eamon Dunphy is an Irish football pundit and in his column, he points the finger of blame to the Republic of Ireland’s Nathan Collins and national boss, Hallgrimsson for the ordering off.
Dunphy told the Irish Mirror, “[Nathan] Collins is a decent and promising centre-half. He won’t be a midfielder in a million years.
“You need hours and hours of work on the training ground to give that kind of role any chance of working. You’ll never get that time at international level.
“This game turned early in the second half with the penalty and the red card for Liam Scales. I wouldn’t blame Scales at all.
“He was trying to do too much on his own and just clipped Jude Bellingham. Collins was way up the field because he was caught between two stools.
“Lee Carsley is no fool. He’d have figured out that the Collins situation was one that England could exploit, and they did once they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes.
“It makes me wonder whether Hallgrimsson has the right stuff.”
What Nathan Collins said about Celtic defender Liam Scales’ red card
Collins spoke post-match about the red card and said, “I’d need to see it back again. I did think it was a little soft.
“He [referee, Erik Lambrechts] did like his yellow cards but it doesn’t take away from the fact that in the second half we weren’t good enough.”
If Dunphy is correct and Collins was at fault he was awfully quiet about it after the game. Maybe when they look back at it again they will recognise Scales was left isolated but when all is said and done, the finger of blame is likely still going to stick with the Celtic defender.
Scales has been immense this season for Celtic and for Ireland and one mistake is unlikely to change the wider opinion that the Irishman is having a stellar year for both club and country.
With domestic action resuming against Hearts on Saturday night, Scales will have the chance to bounce back and show exactly why he’s so important not just to Celtic, but to Ireland as well.
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