Stephen Welsh yesterday received yet more positive press after earning a place in the SPFL Team of the Week.
The Celtic centre-back operated at the heart of the Hoops defence alongside Kristoffer Ajer against Motherwell on Saturday. And in what was only his ninth Bhoys appearance, he scored his first ever goal for the club.
A corner whipped in by David Turnbull saw Welsh power home a header to open the scoring. Celtic would go on to secure a 2-1 victory and back-to-back wins with Welsh starting in both of them.
After the match, the Scotland youth international had his praises sung by manager Neil Lennon on Celtic TV. He stated that Welsh had put in “two solid performances” and that he had “taken his chance very well”.
And now he’s earned some national recognition by the SPFL. It’s the first time ever Welsh has managed a Team of the Week spot, and he was the only Celtic player included too. Here’s a look at the Twitter posts published by the official SPFL account:
Stephen Welsh SPFL TOTW spot well deserved – now must start tonight
If Welsh is to develop the way we all hope he will, he needs to be backed. That includes keeping him in the team for tonight’s trip to St Mirren in Paisley.
It’s a fixture Shane Duffy struggled in during the Parkhead clash. Indeed, it was his crucial error that led to Saints’ winning goal and effectively helped end the title-race. There is absolutely no justification for throwing him back into the spotlight tonight.
In fact, if truth be told, Celtic should be doing all they can to keep Welsh in from now until the end of the season. That includes exposing him to big matches against the likes of Rangers, Aberdeen, and Hibernian respectively.
In addition to that, it’s also important he’s backed when he makes mistakes. He was arguably at fault for AC Milan’s opener at Parkhead back in October. Welsh was then dropped from the starting line-up for nearly three months. That’s not on.
When he makes mistakes he needs to be supported. He needs to be allowed the opportunity to make those errors and feel as though he’ll be given the chance to learn from them. Dropping him immediately for the likes of Duffy or Nir Bitton does nothing for him.
He’s ready for consistent exposure. It’s time we give him it ahead of another crucial campaign next season.
In other news, one Celtic player made a social media u-turn over the weekend.
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