John Hartson sends warning to three Celtic players

Celtic suffered their first league defeat in almost a year, when they were shockingly beaten 2-0 by St Mirren at Paisley. It was not just the loss that will hurt the club though but the manner of it as well. Nobody can blame luck or refereeing decisions on the day. The fact of the matter is that they were completely outplayed by the hosts, who looked like they wanted the three points a whole lot more while the Hoops put in a disjointed performance.

Of course, many have questioned the team that Postecoglou picked on the occasion, dropping several key players and starting with a combination that had most likely never been on the pitch together.

At the same time though, it was the big chance for some of these players to step up to the plate and back themselves to be counted, and none of them ended up doing that.

As reported by 67 Hail Hail, Hartson said while speaking on The Go Radio Football Show:

"“Maybe one or two of the lads who did come in, they have to realise that when they get their chance, they’ve got to put something in Ange Postecoglou’s mind, ‘Can I now leave this lad out the next game?‘.“You’ve got to make an impact, to do enough to give the manager something to think about and at the weekend, Ange is not thinking that way. He’s thinking these fringe players, the likes of Mooy, the likes of Ralston, the likes of Welsh, they may be thinking ‘I want to be playing more‘ but that was your opportunity.”"

Celtic players did not take their chance vs St Mirren

It is safe to say that the players who were on the pitch vs St Mirren did not make enough of an impression to warrant getting more starting opportunities moving forward.

Of course, one can always question the timing of Postecoglou’s decision to drop so many of his key players, in an away game and right before the international break, when the players were set to get a couple of weeks off anyway.

Judging from what we saw from the likes of Mooy, Welsh and Ralston, it is hard to see them being starters any time soon.

Mooy has not really impressed since he has come in as a free agent. Ralston seems like he has taken a step back since a great 2021/22 campaign. And Welsh just does not seem ready to be the Celtic centre-back.