Anthony Ralston has notched up five goals and seven assists from right back this term – stunning statistics for a man who has found himself on the bench a lot recently.
He has pace, desire and urgency in abundance. But he also has an outstanding ability to overlap the winger, enabling him to get in behind a packed defence and supply a low cross or cut back. This was something which I felt could be absolutely key against Livingston – a team who usually sit deep and look to frustrate Celtic – and I wrote as much in an article before the game.
Certainly, getting behind the defence to create a cut back was an element of our play which had been lacking prior to our trip to Almondvale and was particularly non existent on the left hand side against St Mirren.
Ralston is our most attacking full back. He may not have the same talent as Juranovic, though he is arguably more consistent, but he is more of a threat going forward. For Celtic in the SPFL, this is probably more important for a player in that position, as they are up against few attacks.
The Scotsman overlapped the winger in the first half and won a corner, albeit dubiously, which led to our first goal. It was then Ralston’s dangerous cross which was turned into the back of the net by the Livingston defender – an assist in all but name.
These moments highlighted his importance to the team. And while Juranovic is our most talented full back, Ralston is our most attacking one. Therefore, I’d accomodate both at the expense of Greg Taylor… even for the sake of penalties!
Yet, as ever, I trust Ange to make the judgement better than me. This is merely an opinion piece.