Celtic’s pre-season tour of Japan has, I think we can all agree, been a rousing success. As well as boosting our profile off the park, the fans got to see a glimpse of how Celtic will play under Brendan Rodgers on it, and it’s fair to say that the improvements we have seen have been impressive.
Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada both impressed in the attacking third whilst Reo Hatate and Callum McGregor put their stamp on the midfield. At the back was a tale of two stories. Calamitous defending against Yokohama F Marinos was followed up by a calm and assured performance against Gamba Osaka.
But former Celtic star, Peter Grant has highlighted the right-back position for the Hoops as one that he thinks needs to be addressed ahead of the new season. Grant has said that injuries to Alistair Johnston and Anthony Ralston this pre-season are a cause for concern as Flag Day approaches.
Grant said [The Go Radio Football Show], “That’s probably a worry for me at this moment in time because the two boys are out with injury. That’s my concern. They’ve missed this preseason and press preseason is always a difficult one when you’ve missed it to try and catch up.
“Especially when it’s both in the same position. So that’s a little bit of a concern for me as well. Because I don’t want to see [Tomoki] Iwata who’s been playing out there in the preseason friendlies.
“You can see he is a good player. His distribution on the ball is great, but the actual defending, the one v ones and the overloads against you, it’s a completely different position for a midfield player.
“So it is a concern for me as well if the boys are out with injuries that have made them miss a lot of training.”
As Grant alluded to, Iwata stepped into the role and equipped himself well, but as a long-term fix, this is not good enough for us.
Whether or not Rodgers is of a mind to add yet another player to that position remains to be seen.
With Johnston reportedly out for another few weeks yet and nothing of note spoken on Ralston’s apparent injury, it does seem as though it is an area of the team that could require strengthening if both players remain out for a prolonged period of time.
In other news, Maik Nawrocki hopes his Celtic move can make his next ‘dream’ come true
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