Some Celtic fans question James Forrest's performance vs Ross County

James Forrest’s inclusion in the Celtic team yesterday marked his first match since the Rangers game on December 29th.

Forrest was shoehorned back into the team yesterday as Celtic dropped Odsonne Edouard to the bench and played with only one striker. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of Jimmy’s most productive games as he struggled to really test the County back-line.

Celtic winger James Forrest (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Much of our attacks down the right and crosses into the area were instead coming from Moritz Bauer. It really was a day when Forrest just didn’t show us what he’s capable of.

And some were clearly disappointed with his display post-match too. Taking a look on social media, here’s a taster to the reaction from his outing yesterday:

Another terrible game from James Forrest. He hits a 5-game purple patch each season, then reverts back to his mediocre self.

— C67 (@Cr02887062) January 25, 2020

One more rant the manager has to take the blinkers off for his golden boy James Forrest if he's not performing he needs to be dropped just like any player.

— Paradise (@67HolyGrd) January 25, 2020

I think James Forrest is a decent player but canny believe we actually need to watch him his entire career

— Steve (@stevec0471) January 25, 2020

Upgrade James Forrest please

— @BigDoc87 (@BigDoc872) January 25, 2020

Just as feared. As soon as Forrest is fit, he's back in the team. Lennon playing favourites again, at the expense of the two man forward line.

— TheCelticBlogingoli (@CelticBlog2018) January 25, 2020

Forrest has done nothing all day yet stays on while Johnston who's been effective goes off. Baffling from Lennon

— Donnie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@donnies190584) January 25, 2020

Serious consideration needs to be given to how poor our CBs are playing, and how abject Forrest has become.

Rodgers elevated average players to 10 trophies in a row. Lennon needs to find that same spark.

— The Celtic Way (@TheCelticWay3) January 25, 2020

What was really worrying was Lennon said Forrest was back to his usual self 😥

— Michael Mccorriston (@mickmccorriston) January 25, 2020

Forrest’s contribution this season can’t be ignored

There’s no denying that Jimmy has been on a bit of a poor run of form recently. That’s always going to happen given the weight of expectation that’s on his shoulders.

Overall, we can’t underestimate what Forrest has brought to this Celtic side. It’s easy to forget, but he’s already scored 14 goals and managed 17 assists this season (Transfermarkt). In addition to that, he set up Edouard for goal number three yesterday. That’s 31 goals that Forrest has been a direct part of.

You can’t point the finger at Forrest and accuse him of anything other than he’s simply in poor form. The Scotland international has still scored big goals for us this season, and deserves a bit of leeway when he isn’t performing.

James Forrest (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

After all, there were certainly others who weren’t up to it yesterday either. Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Jozo Simunovic, Jonny Hayes, and Leigh Griffiths all struggled to make an impact. Forrest doesn’t deserve to be singled out.

However, at the same time, we all recognise he isn’t playing well enough. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this was down to a lack of quality competition for him at right-mid. Marian Shved still doesn’t look anywhere near the team.

So hopefully we can get that sorted before the end of the January window. In any case, some fans want to see a vast improvement in what Forrest is providing.