Michael Stewart is often spot on about Celtic but today he got it badly wrong

Add as preferred source on Google

Michael Stewart is probably one of the most respected media pundits amongst the Celtic supporting community.

Regarded as someone who calls it as he sees it and who isn’t afraid of taking some other absurd Scottish clubs to task, he has even been one of the rare non-former Celtic players to be on punditry duties for Celtic TV. Not the kind of thing that’s the norm for a former Hearts player.

So, personally, I always look out for his analysis and I often agree with him. However, today I think he’s got it badly wrong about one Celtic player – Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Stewart has delivered a pretty harsh assessment of the Tottenham Hotspur loanee, feeling that Celtic have to do better in the transfer market to progress in the manner Postecoglou wants.

Writing for The Scottish Sun, he said: “So far this season, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt have been Postecoglou’s first-choice duo. For me, neither is good enough.

“I hear people saying the Spurs loan man has been a great addition. But if Celtic want to progress at the European level, they need better.

“Judging by his words, Postecoglou is fully aware he needs to strengthen his defence. The way Celtic have struggled to keep clean sheets in Europe probably won’t be a surprise to him.

“People will talk about his system and how expansive Celtic can be, but that’s not why they’ve conceded goals. It’s down to an inability to defend well enough when they go up a level in the Europa League.”

Line me up as one of the people that think Carter-Vickers has been an exceptional addition to the Celtic squad.

I understand Stewart’s point here, in that we have conceded too many goals in Europe and could have undoubtedly done better on that front. It’s also true that Starfelt, in his initial appearances, looked quite shaky.

However, prior to the Swede’s injury, I felt that partnership with the USA international was building quite nicely.

The fact remains that Celtic have the best defence in Scotland, conceding far fewer goals than the rest of the teams in the Scottish Premiership.

When you consider that even Virgil van Dijk sometimes looked poor in Europe for Celtic, it might be the case that bridging that gap between domestic and European football in a defensive sense is just quite difficult and a constant work-in-progress.

I definitely think it is harsh to say Carter-Vickers is not ‘good enough’ for Celtic. Like everyone else in this squad, there is hope he will improve over time and the Bhoys can start to be more resilient on the continent.

He has strength, composure and notable aerial ability despite not being the tallest.

Ange Postecoglou will be the first to tell you that defending starts from the front and that there were critical moments in the match against Leverkusen that Celtic’s midfield and attack could have taken pressure off of Carter-Vickers and company.

Can Celtic improve? Of course. Is it silly to write off Carter-Vickers? Absolutely. I have confidence he’ll be an important and impressive player for the Bhoys this season.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou left sweating on “influential” Celtic man’s fitness ahead of Aberdeen.