QuoteApparently just scored a cracker for Celtic
Super delivery for first goal. didn't really watch much after that. Those plastic pitches are awful.
Apparently just scored a cracker for Celtic
https://twitter.com/PremierSportsTV/...SC_9zqnUVcs_rAOriginally Posted by Fixer82
It's a gorgeous goal.
Nice goal. Was poor in his last game apparently. Deserves an irish call up if he establishes himself as a regular first team starter at Celtic.
Has to be in the next squad, surely?
Stevens turns 32 this year and McClean (not really a wingback) is 33 in April. It's probably time to consider and assess our succession options.
Definitely succession planning is needed, but let's keep things in context - he's only played 9 games all season, and two of those were sub appearances in relatively meaningless League Cup games. I'm biased towards Scales of course, but even I'd like to see him be more involved at club level before he's starting for Ireland
He is great At left back, he will only gets better there. Or left side of defense left foot defenders are a luxury nowadays.
He's beginning to look and play a bit like Bhoys legend, Tommy Gemmell.
Let’s see if he can establish himself as first choice before we get ahead of ourselves
Fair points by Stu and Tommy. Though I'm not absolutely sure that being first choice at a huge club like Celtic is an absolute prerequisite to gaining a call up with Ireland these days, it would be preferable, of course. I don't think it's totally unrealistic to think that Scales could usurp Taylor in the Celtic side in the relatively near future. Next season will be telling.
Anyway, it's good to see a LoI signing like Scales starting to establish himself as he is.
The speed in which he has done it, would indicate he will grow into a very good player
Pretty sure Stevens is injured, hasn't been in the match day squad for Sheffield United recently. I think the players who you could probably make an argument for are
a) Scales - arguments for and against laid out plenty in this thread
b) Manning - decent championship footballer, very versatile - hasn't looked good in an irish shirt but hasn't had many opportunities
c) Derrick Williams - equally versatile, impressed for ireland in his 3 caps, unlucky with injuries and is playing for a good MLS side
d) Joel Bagan - getting his game in the championship at that age is nothing to be sniffed at. he hasn't stood out at 21s enough to think he's ready but should certainly be in the conversation
I think the guys who were involved in the previous 21s campaign apart from Scales can't really be in the conversation but any one of them could be in maybe 2-3 years:
1) Trevor Clarke - injury woes continue
2) Thomas O'Connor has taken a big pay rise to move from League 1 to The Conference (and has been playing in midflield)
3) Darragh Leahy - Dundalk move hasn't really worked out, given how much they've regressed as a club
4) Tyreke Wilson - Has looked good for Waterford and Bohs but it's a long way from there to international football
5) Kam Ledwidge - still 21s eligible but was released by Southampton and is playing for Shels, considering his performances for the 19s that's a serious drop-off
There’s a fairly good chance Tayo Adaramola leapfrogs quite a few on both lists there, ElatedS, in the next 12-18 months all going to plan. I’ve also watched a couple of games where Festy Ebosele played the left side / lwb position and played it as well as he does the right.
Tayo's excellent from what I've seen at 17s and 19s and probably the best left-back prospect we've had in forever, but he's only just turned 18. He could be an option soon if everything breaks right and he makes progress into Palace's real first team thoughts or gets a really good loan move, but the more likely scenario is that he's still a good way away. If you're looking at guys who are still in their teens, after Tayo, you've got Jay Furlong and Sean Roughan who seem to have stalled a little bit for different reasons but could both be good players in the medium term and Val Adedokun who I've only seen twice but has attributes to be a good modern full back as well.
Alex Murphy is the U18s left back, not sure if he ends up there or in centre mid or elsewhere - highly regarded nonetheless. Not really convinced by Luke O'Brien who's the 17s left back from the little I've seen.
As for Festy, my instinct is he'll end up playing higher up the pitch. He's defensively pretty decent for the most part and I think he would end up being a very good wing back or full back but I think ultimately his ability on the ball and the quickness of his feet mean he'll end up as an attacking player...
James Furlong and Sean Roughan have a chance of making it into either of ES' two categories. They're behind Adaramola I'm sure but Roughan has a loan to Drogheda to do something with and Furlong will surely be targeting his own loan for next season.
Of the above who'd jump out to you as the guy most likely to come in and stake a claim? For me it's Scales all day long. He's not dynamic but he's calm and composed, makes good decisions, always seems to have time and has a good knack of sliding the ball into the "corridor of uncertainty". When asked to step up a level he has always looked good (SPL, European...) and I think he'll only get better.
I don't care if he's not a regular starter for Celtic. Taylor is very experienced but I think it's clear Postecoglou appeciates Scales' ability at this stage. With European football about to re-commence this week and a tight title race and the SFA Cup still to come I'd imagine Scales will see a few more club games between now and Easter as Postecoglou uses his squad.
I can't comment on the Palace kid as I've only read about him but surely Scales has a clear advantage?
Scales and Manning have the advantage of being a bit older and having already been involved in senior squads. Bagan may well have a higher ceiling than either of them in the long run though. He's two footed and he looks quicker than Scales, but has played less senior football up to now.
I don't know enough about Adaramola or Furlong to comment on them to be honest, but it's concerning for Furlong that he never seems to get minutes in cup games for Brighton when other younger players do.
I think we can safely write off Williams, Clark, Leahy, Ledwidge and Wilson at this point as far as bring serious options for the senior team go. O'Connor is good enough to make it back up the divisions in time, but probably as a midfielder, not a left back.
With Celtic being comfortably beaten 3-1 at home by a Bodø side in pre-season in the Conference League, I wonder do we need to re-evaluate how huge a club Celtic really are?
That'd be three European competitions they've been dumped out of this season unless they can salvage something next week.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 17/02/2022 at 8:51 PM.
Celtic are an annoying team from an Irish player point of view, the Irish players they sign (usually cheap punts, if we're being honest) struggle for game time, yet the team themselves are not that good.
They're a big club in terms of history and fanbase and so on, but there's a biscuit tin mentality in the board room that holds them back badly.
As for Scales, if he can't force his way into that first team ahead of the Taylor lad that was playing left back tonight, he has no real prospect of being first choice left back for Ireland.
if celtic themselves are not good and the irish lads are struggling to get in maybe.... the irish lads are not actually good. Scales is the best one to land at celtic in a while all of the others were poor.
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