By:
Mark Hendry
Liam Scales and Celtic suffered another defeat away to Motherwell on Tuesday.
Scales’ form has been poor in recent weeks and he was missing from the most recent pair of fixtures.
Celtic actually won those matches 3-1 and 4-2 respectively against Aberdeen and Livingston.
And it came as Scales had started the four before those games as they lost all of them.
Scales felt like he would suffer more disappointment by being left out at Fir Park.
However new manager Wilfried Nancy opted to play the Wicklow man from kick-off.
Unfortunately for both player and club, it was a decision which backfired as Celts lost again.
It was their fifth defeat from seven under Nancy and leaves the Frenchman in a difficult spot.
Liam Scales curse haunts Celtic again
But it arguably has Scales, 27, in an equally poor position with the stats working against the centre-half.
Scales has been asked to swap positions for the Hoops in his matches under Nancy.
And it is clear his versatility does not quite cover at full-back or as a marauding wide player.
Nancy has been adamant about using his preferred 3-5-2 formation with Scales part of the back three.
And yet, the fluidity of what Nancy wants does not lend itself to suiting the players currently at Parkhead.
That’s where Scales’ struggles have come in with his bread and butter hoofing the ball into Row Z and winning his headers.
Should Celtic persist with Nancy – and it’s a big if – it is likely that Scales may have no future in Glasgow.
The defender is not suited to the system his manager likes to play and new recruits will arrive in January’s transfer window.
Scales stuttered for Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup Final vs St Mirren at Hampden recently.
Celtic’s run of form under manager Wilfried Nancy
Which was certainly not his only misstep.
Celtic have had to rely on Scales and Anthony Ralston to play their part in a back three alongside Auston Trusty.
But results and performances have proven neither can be trusted in that spot.
The likes of Kieran Tierney and Colby Donovan – both full-backs by trade – have had to deputise to cover.
The manager would have been hoping to build on the momentum from his first victories as boss.
However that did not quite work out after Ibrahim Said and Eliot Watt both found the back of the net.
The first came from an excellent Stephen O’Donnell cross and the second was a Kasper Schmeichel howler.
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