This season has been a bit of a stop-start one for Celtic under Brendan Rodgers. As well as dealing with some high-profile departures, the Hoops boss has also needed to cope with a horrendous run of injuries.
Injuries to important first-team players like Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate have had a huge effect on our season so far.
But so has the form of some other players. Matt O’Riley has gone off the boil a bit and Kyogo Furuhashi‘s goals have dried up from what they have been as the players seem to struggle with Rodgers’ tactics.
However, there is one player who John Hartson believes has regressed under the current Celtic manager and it is one who was signed by Ange Postecoglou back in December of 2022. [CelticFC]
Hartson said [The Go Radio Football Show], “Alistair Johnston‘s not been as good as he was last season. I see him a little bit, he gives the ball away a little bit too cheaply.
“He doesn’t get back all the time. I think he ball watches and his man gets around him and gets into Celtic’s defensive third.
“And a lot of the time when Celtic were playing the high line they used to play in the opposition’s half and they kept the ball really, really well.
“And then you’ve also got to be aware when you play high of the ball over the top with counter-attacks from the opposition. I think Celtic have been caught so many times when teams counter-attack against them.”
I don’t think Johnston has got worse I just think, like the rest of the Celtic team, he has struggled to maintain the high standards that he brought in when he first arrived.
After he joined Celtic in December 2022, Johnston was thrust into the January Ibrox Glasgow Derby for his first full debut.
A 2-2 draw was a massive baptism into the Scottish game for the Canadian but he never looked back after that game.
A thirteen-game unbeaten run in the league with Johnston in the side helped wrap up the title in his first season and appearing in all but two rounds of the Scottish Cup, Johnston was a huge player for us getting to the final.
The right-back was also a massive influence in Celtic beating Rangers in the League Cup Final in February as well. [Transfermarkt]
A treble-winning debut half-season was always going to be tough to follow. Especially under a new manager.
But recently we have seen Johnston get back to his best and with nine games of the league to do, the 24-year-old will still have a huge part to play in Celtic’s season yet.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers has a theory over why Cameron Carter-Vickers keeps getting injured at Celtic
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