Anthony Ralston

Feel like he is made a scapegoat at times.

He is a great back up to have and a real honest and dogged defender. His attitude is also second to none. He is good enough to start for nearly every side in Scotland.

 

I wouldn't say scapegoat, perhaps under appreciated, but when we have a poor result, homegrown players seem to be more in the firing line than some others, just remember the outrage on here when Ange handed Forrest a new contract a few years ago. We sometimes have to be realistic and realize that we are never going to be able to have 2 elite players for the full back positions, because of finances and an elite player wont be content to be a back up.
He is just the type of player for a back up position, homegrown also helps. Knows the club, knows the system and can slot in seamlessly.

 

Think both of you are right there, under appreciated and can be scapegoated. I’ve seen times he’s not played in ages and we’ve not had replacements for other places in the team met with not got the depth in the squad with the likes of Ralston.

Under appreciated because still our fans have no idea half the time about him as a player. The first comment this page is calling him a dogged defender. Defending isn’t his strongest point, he’ll make sure to destroy a 50/50 or aerial duel but he’s not particularly good defensively and I’m his biggest fan.

His vision and passing can be * exceptional though. People always say he’s ’actually’ passing it really well etc any time he plays. Not short possession play, ball in behind, crossing and by far his best thing now is cross field pass. See him against the Huns? How many inch perfect ones did he play to Maeda? Him behind Abada, his passing between fullback and CB, perfectly weighted and timed for Abada’s run from out to in he loved, and was excellent at. He nailed that always.

I’m sure early this season he had a belter wee chipped pass from centre right into the penalty spot for a goal.

He’s hard, slide tackles so * stay tackled, loves a 50/50 and then when people realise his vision is probably his best attribute people say infact this game he was quite good at that.


Aw and another, he’s * good in the air. When he plays we don’t let him go up for corners. That * annoys me

 

Loved him bodying that wee * Gordon.

 

Another strong performance. Great to see.

 

You have to admire the fella tbf.

 

Ralston is a clever guy and his reading of the game is pretty good. Sometimes his ability doesn't match what he's trying to do , but I think he's a valuable member of the team. I used AI to collate some data , and out of any other full back during kyogos time here . Ralston picked him out the most . 2.5 passes per 90, the next best was Juranovic with 2.2 and most notibly Johnston with 1.8.

Just found the stats pretty interesting.

 

He’s very good at the deep early balls down the channels into a striker, probably why he was always so good at picking out Kyogo with his runs.

He’s the type of important squad players we need for the long term especially while we’ve been so successful.

 

He is honestly a woeful defender. He gets beat everytime he is in a one on one. He is also terrible going forward.

You just pray that AJ is fit and available all season.

 

Decent game today. Midweek and Sunday are going to be huge tests for him in terms of match fitness.

 

Sad to think if he gets injured we only have a young revsere player to take his place, hopefully the young lad is good enough

 

Next game is gonna be a dog fight and id have Raldo in the trenches with me all day long. Not the greatest footballer but youl get 110% and thats whats needed in Kazakhstan. It won't be pretty but maybe thats whats needed..

 

Think the best to highlight him picking out runs up the other end of the pitch, and I’ve not looked these stats up, but Ralston with Abada and finding the right pass to him running in behind I would bet a lot would be so much more than Juranovic did.

I know Ralston assist and chances made, is vastly superior to Juras.