John Hartson believes that Brendan Rodgers is on the verge of choosing one Celtic player more regularly this season.
The former Celtic hero was discussing Joe Hart’s red card against Livingston and said that James Forrest was very unlucky to be sacrificed for the Hoops keeper’s mistake.
Hartson said [The Go Radio Football Show], “I think James Forrest is in Brendan’s thoughts. He’s in the manager’s thoughts. He starts a game and he might miss the next two or three.
“But certainly, Brendan sees a role for James Forrest. And he was doing okay before he come off. And he’s at that age now, James, he’s at that situation where he would he’s got experience. He knows it’s a team game. It’s a squad game.
“And if Joe Hart hadn’t had been sent off, he might have played an hour he might have carried on but as I said, I think it was a really good tactical change.”
James Forrest is a good back-up option for Celtic
Look, there is no denying James Forrest’s achievements at Celtic. In his heyday, he was an absolute star for the club.
But those days are gone and I think Hartson is way off here. Brendan Rodgers has a plethora of wingers at his disposal.
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Signing the likes of Hyunjun Yang, Luis Palma and Marco Tilio does not send me any good vibes that James Forrest could feature a lot this season.
And let’s not forget we also have Mikey Johnston returning from injury and, eventually, Liel Abada. Forrest is likely to be selected for games where experience is required. Like Livingston on Saturday.
The Almondvale pitch required a player who knows how to play it and Forrest was perfect for that. It was unfortunate for him that Hart’s red card kiboshed his appearance in the Hoops.
Rodgers is likely to go with Palma and Yang for the majority of this season alongside Daizen Maeda. Because if he doesn’t, what was the point of bringing them to Celtic in the first place?
In other news, ‘Very strange’: Pundit can’t understand Alistair Johnston’s comments after Celtic beat Livingston