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Strength to weakness, weakness to strength, the swap in the Left and Right sides fortunes at Celtic.

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We have been howling “Where’s my Right Back!” for years now, Lustig for all his stellar domestic service was targetted relentlessly by European teams knowing they would get no joy on the left at Celtic.

In the space of a month, we have seen several things change the landscape in the fortunes of our team.

Firstly, and no it isn’t Kieran Tierney, we have seen Scott Sinclair fall out of favour in Hoops and be relegated to a squad member, I know he is a figure who over the last 2 years has copped plenty of pelters, but he never comes off the field without giving his all, he is guilty of being man-marked.

Such has been his influence over the last 3 years that he has rattled in over 50 goals and over a dozen assists as well, as alluded to above, he draws defences to him, no team dare give him room after his first season heroics.

He of course had KT playing with him on the overlap and the two of them were a deadly partnership, KT is gone and of course, couldn’t have played a role yesterday regardless how much we wish he was still on our books.

That place was destined to be filled by Boli, that said his last 2 games for Celtic were atrocious, he was awful in the first leg and worse on the weekend.

That Calmac played left back was a terrible decision, that said, when he did play there in a defeat on the 29th of December to the Newco, he was the best on the field in Hoops at least.

Lennon of course gambled and it failed, I am not here to stick up for him, I still believe in the project he leads but like everyone else the defeat has been hard to process, we shipped 4 goals to a Romanian team at home, after all, I am still in shock.

For many years our Left side has been our strong side and our right side our Achilles heel, last night we saw Hatem and Forrest link up well, telling crosses come from the right and great link up play with Christie in particular.

On the left we saw Mikey look well out of his depth against a physical team playing a high press, he was hounded off the ball with a very lenient referee not helping the situation.

He has had a great start to the season and I hope to see him in Hoops for years but he lacks the killer instinct of Sinclair, once he is past his man he stops and then moves to try and beat them again, Sinclair hits top gear, gets clear of his man and looks to cross.

His experience would have been invaluable last night, also his ability to battle for the ball whilst in possession, we have a player who is feared across Scotland who woke up with splinters in his arse when we needed him most.

On the right side we saw Hatem and Jamesy run riot, the former looks a bargain buy who if he can maintain his development will turn into a fan favourite, he is strong in a challenge, loves to get forward and pragmatic in his passing, hitting feet instead of lobbing to know one.

That role would have been duly filled on the left had we seen Sinclair instead of Mikey and Morgan, themselves 2 fine prospects but not the heads needed in a game with stakes so high.

Going forward I can’t see us signing Meling, he will likely be playing Champions League Football and even if he wanted to come Rosenborg will make it too expensive for Lawwell to spend.

We had better look at Taylor from Kilmarnock, he is affordable and solid domestically which is where the majority of our ambition lies this season, if not all of it.

Ahead of him, we should be looking at dealing Sinky back into the selection mix, he never walks off the pitch with a clean shirt for Celtic, in a time we need strength, ability and experience on the left he is the obvious choice to take us forward.

Just when we get the Right side fixed the left goes to bits, this isn’t a time for projects, this is 9 in a row, time to back those who will deliver it.

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