Brendan Rodgers singles out Ireland star Liam Scales for praise after Rangers win
Celtic coasted to a 3-0 victory against Rangers to send out an early title warning but one Ireland star received plenty of praise.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers stressed the importance of Liam Scales to his squad after the defender stepped up with a big performance against Rangers following the arrival of fresh competition.
Scales delivered a strong display in central defence as the William Hill Premiership champions beat their rivals 3-0 on Sunday.
Celtic bought left-sided United States international centre-back Auston Trusty two days earlier and the former Sheffield United player will be looking to form a partnership with international team-mate Cameron Carter-Vickers.
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But Scales’ performance showed the Republic of Ireland international has no intention of relinquishing his place.
The 26-year-old looked like he was on his way out of Celtic following a season-long loan at Aberdeen but he broke into the first team 12 months ago following injuries to the likes of Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki.
A clean sheet and exceptional display against Rangers at Ibrox set the tone for the season as Scales made 45 appearances to help Celtic to double glory as well as establishing himself in his national team.
Rodgers allowed Gustaf Lagerbiekle and Yuki Kobayashi to depart in the transfer window while Nawrocki looks likely to be on the fringes after an injury-hit first 12 months in Glasgow.
But Scales appears to have a central role to play.
“What’s important is the squad,” Rodgers said.
“I don’t know where we would have been without Liam last year. When he came in and played away at Ibrox and all the challenges that he has had from a player that was maybe going to leave. He is such an important member of this squad.
“But we knew if we are going to go deep in competitions and challenge and be able to recover players, we had to get that quality into the building.
“Thankfully we have been able to do that. I asked for that with the club and the club has been first class at bringing players in and at the level we want. That will hopefully serve us well going forward.”
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