Celtic have hit their stride in the last couple of weeks and now sit at the top of the Scottish Premiership table for the duration of the international break.
There has been a noticeable upturn in our wing play over the past few games, evidenced by the fact the Bhoys have netted 14 times in our previous three home fixtures.
On the right flank, Nicolas Kuhn and Hyunjun Yang have been in productive form; meanwhile, Daizen Maeda has enjoyed a purple patch from the left-hand side.
Granted, wingers manage to obtain most of the credit for their ingenuity and ability to hit the line; nevertheless, spare a thought for the full-backs behind them who put in a power of work.
It isn’t a coincidence that Celtic’s upturn in fortunes has coincided with Alistair Johnston’s return to the side.
This campaign, the Canada international has turned in another strong showing, laying eight big chances on a plate for his teammates and recording an average match rating of 7.52/10 in the Scottish Premiership [Sofascore].
At home to St Johnstone, the 25-year-old maintained a passing accuracy of 89%, won all of his aerial duels and made two clearances, providing an excellent platform for Kuhn to cause danger further up.
Former Celtic man Steve Guppy’s Alistair Johnston comparison
Former Celtic man Steve Guppy is an assistant coach at Nashville and spent a brief time working with Johnston as he made his way in football.
In a revealing interview, the 54-year-old went into depth regarding the role he played in the Canadian’s career development, and he has even likened him to Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold due to his crossing ability.
Guppy explained [Cited via The Celtic Way]: “We only spent a short time together in Nashville, but the thing with Alistair was that when he was coming through, he was very good at defending, and that was his star quality.
“He has brought that with him to Celtic as well as the fact that he has played in big games and gained great experience.
“I was more interested in trying to help him develop a weapon in terms of his crossing because that’s what every modern-day full-back needs. Full-backs now specialise in arriving late and causing chaos in the opposition box. Basically, full-backs are inverted wingers nowadays. Thank goodness that wasn’t around when I played football!
“I looked at helping Alistair with his one-versus-one work as it became apparent that he wasn’t very good at it. That wasn’t going to be his thing. I am sure he can knock a ball past and beat a player when he is on his game, but predominantly, that was not his thing.
“The next thing we looked at was his crossing and Alistair really took to that. When you look at a full-back who is capable of creating a result from the wide area then that is interesting.”
He later added: “What I liked about Alistair was his style and technique of crossing the ball was reminiscent of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s at Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold is a tremendous crosser of the ball and that’s why I got excited about Alistair when I saw him play for Celtic.
“I have watched Alistair with Celtic, and he is also good at the lofted channel ball. It is a dying art because it is a pass, but it is sometimes wrongly labelled by British coaches as the long ball, but there is a subtle difference. It is a pass, and it is very effective, and I am glad to see and hear that Alistair is using that to good effect.”
Alistair Johnston is a vital asset for Celtic
Johnston provides energy and athleticism from the right-hand side that is vital to our tactical framework and is probably the likeliest to fit the description of an archetypal Brendan Rodgers full-back.
Of course, he hasn’t been helped by the constant chopping and changing in front of him this term; however, Johnston appears to have formed a couple of fruitful relationships with his chosen winger recently, which can only bode well for the future.
In the title run-in, you would suspect that he will be relied upon heavily as the Bhoys look to put the seal on a domestic double.