Scottish journalist and Celtic fan Dominik Diamond has given his thoughts on the performances of Anthony Ralston.
The 23-year-old right-back, whilst a prominent member of the Celtic first-team with 37 appearances to his name so far this season, has found his place in the side under threat in recent weeks, with Josip Juranovic also getting some minutes in the side in some of their more recent games.
However, his most recent performance might have gone some way to convince Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou to keep him in the starting XI for the foreseeable future.
As per WhoScored, Ralston completed an impressive 92% of his passes, made one key pass, won three of his four aerial duels and made two tackles, whilst also grabbing the assist for the winning goal during their victory over Dundee.
Taking to Twitter over the weekend following the win, Diamond, whilst also praising hat-trick hero Giorgos Giakoumakis, claimed that Ralston’s place in the side should be pretty secure moving forward:
TIF Thoughts on Dominik Diamond’s comments about Anthony Ralston at Celtic…
Is Anthony Ralston Celtic's best fullback?
Yes
No
Given how close Ralston and Juranovic are statistically – Ralston has more clearances and blocks per game, Juranovic has made more interceptions per match, whilst they are level in terms of tackles per game (via WhoScored), you can understand why Postecoglou might want to change the side every now and again, just to offer something different.
Based on how often he has played there so far this season as a whole, Ralston is probably Postecoglou’s favourite when it comes to the position. And given Juranovic’s flexibility, which has seen him play multiple positions this season, he doesn’t always have to be pinned to that one position.
But that doesn’t totally mean that Ralston should be resting on his laurels. There’s still plenty of football left to be played this season, and one or two bad performances might persuade the Australian boss to think differently.
In other news: ‘Constance menace’ – Celtic journo drools over star who had 105 touches vs Dundee