Scottish Premiership giants Celtic did not sign a replacement for Emilio Izaguirre last summer and now Kieran Tierney is injured.
In hindsight, Brendan Rodgers was always taking a big risk when he decided not to sign a replacement for Emilio Izaguirre when the long-serving defender departed for Al-Fayah last summer.
Yes, Kieran Tierney is arguably the most impressive young left-back in the British game right now but, with a lack of proven alternatives in a specialist positon, Celtic were always asking for trouble.
And so it has proved. Tierney was badly missed after being ruled out of Sunday’s dire stalemate at Motherwell.
Rodgers obviously feels that Calvin Miller, the 20-year-old academy graduate with just two league appearances to his name, is not yet ready for an extended run in the side, meaning that attacking midfielder Callum McGregor was forced to drop in on the left of a 3-5-2 system.
Judging by the criticism of McGregor’s display, the experiment did not really work.
And while Tierney has been fit and available throughout most of the season, making 48 appearances in all competitions, surely Rodgers should have negated the problems a potential injury would cause by bringing in a player to succeed Izaguirre as back-up.
Celtic were linked with a number of left-backs, from Joe Bryan to Charlie Taylor, but failed to sign a single one – a mistake that looked costly at Firhill last weekend.
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