Scotland’s performances in Euro 2024 have brought with it some targeted criticism towards the Celtic players in Steve Clarke’s team.
Callum McGregor was singled out by former Rangers manager, Graeme Souness, for his part in the 5-1 defeat to Germany to which Celtic replied in splendid fashion during the 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
Next up was Anthony Ralston who was taking the criticism after his mistake allowed Switzerland to score their equaliser in the second group game of the tournament.
Even though it was previously pointed out by David Moyes that it was Grant Hanley‘s pass that put the Celtic defender under pressure that caused the slack pass.
Well, it seems that another of Ralston’s Scotland teammates is also to blame for the Celtic fullback’s struggles in the tournament which has just been pointed out by Chris Sutton.
Jack Hendry ‘constantly’ puts Ralston ‘under severe pressure’
The former Celtic hero praised Ralston’s ‘attitude and spirit’ to bounce back from the Swiss mistake but it seems that Ralston’s tournament is not being helped by former Hoops teammate, Jack Hendry.
Sutton said [Daily Record], “He’s taken some stick after his part in the Swiss goal the other night but he was brutally unlucky.
“It just happened to fall right in the path of Xherdan Shaqiri but the finish was out of this world. It was an error but the punishment was brutal.
“I’ve said before, I love Ralston’s attitude and spirit. He only started eight games for Celtic last term but he refuses to hide. His teammates didn’t make it easy for him the other night either.
“The pass from Grant Hanley put him under severe pressure and Jack Hendry has constantly put him on the back foot in this competition so far by playing balls either behind him or with not enough pace.
“It’s been a thankless task for him but if he’s asked to go again, he’ll give everything as usual.”
Ralston is a type of marauding fullback who is always looking to get forward in the game. If the passing from his Scotland teammate is causing him issues then Sutton is quite right to point it out.
The online nonsense that’s being said about Ralston seems to be coming from one side of Glasgow as it looks like they attempt to create a scapegoat for what turned out to be a very creditable draw.
The only thing Ralston and McGregor need to do to shut their critics up is to put in a good performance tonight against the Hungarians to send Scotland into the last 16 of the tournament.
Then, and only then, will the narrative against the two be stopped as they would go down in Scotland’s history as part of the first team to ever to get out of a major national tournament’s group stage.