Liam Scales

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou insists he'll give Liam Scales time to develop at Parkhead as injuries put his squad under strain.

The Bhoys dropped more points in the Premiership on Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United at home.

Former Australia head coach Postecoglou saw his injury issues mount further when Josip Juranovic [tight hamstring] and Republic of Ireland midfielder James McCarthy [knock] suffered first-half injuries against United.

Celtic were already missing eight players and had no experienced attacking options to come off the bench.

They face Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League on Thursday, and though Scales - who made his debut last week in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win over Raith Rovers - should at least feature on the bench, Postecoglou stressed the former Shamrock Rovers and UCD defender will need space to find his feet.

"It was good for Liam to make his debut against Raith," Postecoglou said.

"He has come from a different league and has had to get adjusted to training but we were looking for an opportunity to give him some game time.

"When you make your debut you are going to be a little bit nervous so it was great for him to come on against Raith and take his first steps.

"Although he is a bit older in terms of years he is still very inexperienced at this level so we will give him time and develop him properly.

"We sign players because we see something in them but the next step is for them to grab their opportunity."

 

Ah well, another project.

 

Wild idea here, but could we sign players that are proven quality so we can win football matches, like everybody else does?

 

Shock horror that a 23 year old punt from the LOI just happened to play for the club that Desmond has shares in

 

Thought he'd at least have got some game time against Dundee Utd.

Granted, he came on against 10-man Raith Rovers when the game was done but he looked ready to start accumulating minutes on the pitch.

 

Really want to see him get a chance..

Having a bit of height in the fullback areas is needed, we're a small side.

 

Aye, I said just before there corner they scored from I’d get him on just for some extra height defensively.

 

I feel like Ange wanted a proven LB and the board refused to sign one, so they brought in Scales on the cheap to pretend to the fans they bought a LB, hence why Ange refuses to consider him first team.

 

Thought he looked the part against Raith. Quick, powerful, sharp. Although I appreciate it was against lower level opposition.

Nonetheless, I think his pace and presence would be an asset to our defence. Overall I think he would be a better option than Montgomery but he needs time to show it. Montgomery done enough to show he’s a promising young player but he isn’t a KT and shouldn’t be playing every game.

 

All this talk of Ange viewing him as a project, yet starts Montgomery, is very confusing.

He showed in his brief spell against Raith that he certainly deserves a shot at left back. He would've played better there today than Montgomery, I have no doubts about that.

 

No idea if it's due to fitness or something else, but we should really be giving the guy a chance to become our first choice LB. It's our weakest part of the pitch by far and we're currently shoehorning a winger in there.

 

I wonder if Ange sees him more as a CB than a LB. We don't have much cover there at the moment until Julien gets back, just Welsh really, so maybe he doesn't want to risk him at LB yet in case he picks up an injury and we lose cover for 2 positions.

 

I agree with Ange here... as a league of Ireland fan the step up to Celtic is massive... I wanted him thrown straight in but makes more sense to let him adjust

 

He should have been brought on as soon as we scored the winner today to shore things up. Everyone knew Aberdeen were going to load the box from then on and his height and defensive instinct would have been useful. Real naivety from Ange there in my opinion.

I’d like to see him given a run to see what he’s made of. None of Taylor, Montgomery or Boli are the answer at left back so let’s find out if this guy could be.

 

So he would've been a worse option than Montgomery?

Not buying it.

 

I feel that’s sensible until you see Montgomery is playing mate.

Surely a top player from the league of Ireland is at least on par with a 19 year old winger from the academy?

 

He’s got to be more match ready than Montgomery.He was called up to the ROI squad in the last international break.Strange he’s not getting a chance.

 

Ange confirmed today 2 weeks into training will get him ready for after the break same with GG

 

Ability wise I'd say so mate.. up to speed with fitness and speed of Celtic probably not.. if he was ready I'm sure he'd be playing