Anthony Ralston not the answer in Nancy’s defensive system

One of our most obvious frailties at this moment is that of our defence, which is undoubtedly our achilles heel, and that will continue to be exposed until the players learn to fully adapt to Wilfried Nancy’s system, or we install players who can fully adjust to the Frenchman’s philosophy.

One such player who looks somewhat lost in Nancys system is Anthony Ralston. Raldo is naturally a right back, and asking him to play a more central role is clearly not working. Some players such as Kieran Tierney can adapt to a more central role, but unfortunately for Raldo he isn’t one of those players.

The Scotland man without sounding disrespectful isn’t blessed with an abundance of natural ability. I don’t wish to single him out as he gives everything in a Celtic shirt, but he’s a back up player at best, that’s the brutal truth. A back up right back, not a central defender. Something that continues to be exposed in each game.

It might seem like I’m singling out an easy target, but it’s nothing more than fair criticism of a player who’s a weak link in Nancy’s Celtic side. A weak link that will continue to be exposed by our opponents who can also see Nancy’s problem.

Surely Nancy has better options available to him? JSP or Dane Murray would be better utilised in a position they favour. Even playing a three man left sided defence of Liam Scales, Aston Trusty and Kieran Tierney would serve us more efficiently but then again that’s three lefties and that has also had its vulnerabilities.

Surely Wilfried Nancy will be looking to bring in his own players when the window opens, but in the meantime he’s got to select the best players available to him, and Anthony Ralston isn’t one of them when playing in a back three. If he continues to persevere with Tony as a right sided centre back then we will continue to be exposed defensively and that’s a worry ahead of the trip to Fir Park to take on Motherwell then the Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park on 3 January.

If the manager sticks with his current back three I certainly hope that Anthony Ralston proves me wrong.