Our rock at the back, the big strong man that is Cameron Carter Vickers was amongst the Celtic squad travelling for pre season training in Portugal. CCV, as we know, had to curtail his season just after the Scottish Cup semi-final victory over theRangers at the end of April, a win which all but guaranteed a historic eighth treble for the club.
Players like Kyogo, Jota and Reo Hatate got much of the praise for their superb performances , and rightly so as they were highly influential in our treble win, but CCV was just as important. His presence at the back was vital. Attacking players will naturally get all the plaudits, but a secure backline is what all successful sides are built on.
Big CCV held us together at the back, his mere presence was enough to breed confidence throughout the side and the supporters. Carl Starfelt is a superb defender and vastly underrated and dare I say it, unappreciated, but he’s much more efficient and comfortable with CCV beside him. They have a great rapport and that shows on the pitch. There’s a reason we had the best defensive record in the country last season and those two are greatly responsible.
It was blatantly obvious that the defence was much weaker in the absence of CCV towards the end of the season. Ten goals were shipped in total minus the presence of the big American. Carl Starfelt never let us down but his defence partners Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata were less than convincing while Stephen Welsh couldn’t force himself into the side.
The fact that CCV is now back in training (albeit light training) and raring to go is a massive shot in the arm for us. If things go to plan he should be fit for the start of the season and with Carl Starfelt beside him, not to mention Alistair Johnston and Greg Taylor, we have a solid and settled backline to start the season. Something that will help Brendan greatly.
It’s been a while since we went into a new campaign with a solid and settled defence. Barring any injuries, this one should be different. That said we still need a quality addition as back up to cover any possible injuries. The end of last season proved we can’t afford to gamble where that’s concerned.
JustAnOrdinaryBhoy – follow on Twitter @ordinarybhoy
Morning Gossip: As our Bhoys headed off to Portugal, the best sight was seeing our Rock CCV among the group. It might be a stretch to be fit for the first game of the season but by all accounts, he is making good progress. Time for hard work this week & some 1st team signings HH pic.twitter.com/HZkxkZGOPg
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) July 10, 2023
As you may know I made my debut at a Celtic fan media conference on Friday afternoon and my question to new Celtic signing Marco Tilio about Ange Postecoglou seems to have made the headlines….here’s what happened!
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— Matt Corr (@Boola_vogue) July 9, 2023
Scales has shown at Aberdeen that he is a capable left sided defender who can also attack.
I hope he gets a chance .