No worries, I thought you were clear, and right. The general perception was that he was out of his depth in Scotland so couldn’t be an option for us. I just thought he acquitted himself well enough in his first few games and the general perception was unfair.Originally Posted by elatedscum
Spent a long stretch of his career at UCD. Progressed onto Rovers. Onto regular SPL with Aberdeen. And now impressive performances for Celtic against Rangers and Feyenoord. Could be the case that he's developing and progressing through the levels. He has looked much more comfortable of late and that could be coming from confidence with his abilities and the pace of the game, which may have improved with the stretch.
As much as the Celtic fans being dismissive of him and our league annoyed me, it is a fact that he had to step up a level or two. No surprise he had a few rocky patches but all things considered, if he is now at the pace of the game there after just a season, then he's done really well.
Still has to maintain the consistency but he finished the season well with Aberdeen and has carried that through to Celtic so that's really promising.
Still a step up to most international games from the SPL but he's at least worth a look.
Last edited by ontheotherhand; 21/09/2023 at 5:19 AM.
21 leagues and 25 cups.
Nice to watch a champions league game with an eye on an Irish player. Thought he did well in the circumstances .
A travesty to give up a sucker punch like that at the end of the game but couldn't blame him for it.
Wonder if he's going to continue to play with CCV coming back from injury.
CCV at fault for the goal. I thought both Scales and Phillips were good. But you'd imagine Scales might end up being the odd man out
I thought he was really good last night. Celtic Twitter was very positive about him. Defended well. He shows more courage on the ball than plenty of Irish midfielders have done down the years. One or two sloppy passes but overall his use of the ball was positive but sensibly playing it back to Hart or across to Phillips when needed. I'd go as far as saying he was absolutely integral to the type of build from the back / draw the press type of game Celtic tried to play. Lazio tried to play the same way too. The first 30 minutes was compelling imho.
I'd love to know how many touches he had and how many passes he made. I wouldn't be surprised if he had more of the ball than any Celtic player and I'd hazard a guess that he completed more passes last night than Ireland did in total in some games (e.g., Spain in Gdansk) or away to Denmark under MON.
I think he looks really confident too.
He had the highest rating for a Celtic player on the BBC thingy ~ How credible that is ~ I don't know.
Being honest I never thought Scales was good enough to make it at Celtic but I'm very happy for him to have proved me wrong. He's playing at a level that makes him impossible to ignore for celtic and Ireland.
With us playing 3 at the back his comfort in coming out to the left back area to snuff out danger is a real asset. I thought that system could have suited us well back in the days of Ciaran Clark, who was similar in that regard.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
129 touches, Completed 106 of 121 passes(88%) according to sofascore
https://www.sofascore.com/lazio-celtic/cXsZdb#11605899
Rated 8/10 and described as 'imperious' and 'outstsnding' on Glasgow Live.
we are known to fix a vote or two...
all that said, seems like he is having his breakthrough season. I dont think i have seen him play at all but hoping he can keep his performances up and his place in the team - we need options!
Glad to see the scales have fallen from your eyes.
Ahem.
I was very impressed and agree with Stutts that he was perhaps the most important defender in terms of Celtic playing that possession-based system so well for large periods of the match. Really great to see him kick on after initially seeming to struggle in Scotland.
Scales should be a lesson for us not to be writing players off at 21 or 22, some take longer to develop. Fair play to him
Its really not that complicated!!!
High praise indeed and well deserved
He along with the entire Celtic team have played a terrific half against Atletico this evening.
He did get fairly lucky with Witsel being inches offside for a disallowed goal but he's been very much up to Champions league pace.
Hopefully they can hold out for a result and get back in the qualification frame.
He's cut out a shed load of habitual poor defensive mistakes and is definitely more comfortable playing alongside Carter-Vickers. He made only one glaring error this evening which wasn't punished.
If it had been punished, would the glaring error have been upgraded to a horrific career ending error?
He's a classy defender in the making, a 'latish' developer.
Has become the first Irish international squad member to give an interview in Irish:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=12m0rsdy2r4
I know Bazunu was given MOTM but for me the only outfield player who looked like he belonged at this level was Scales. He's just so smooth and elegant on the ball. Commanding when needed and always looking for a positive pass. I think he dropped a notch after the head knock. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it affected him neurologically and maybe he shouldn't have stayed on.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 21/11/2023 at 8:12 AM.
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