Celtic‘s defensively perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season came to an end as they finally conceded a goal in their 2-1 win over Ross County.
Ronan Vale got two opportunities to beat Kasper Schmeichel from the penalty spot in the first half, after the Danish titan saved the first effort whilst a yard off his line, and found the bottom corner with his second.
The Hoops rallied in the second half, though, as Alistair Johnston deflected in Callum McGregor’s shot before setting up Nicolas Kuhn for the winner.
It was a mixed afternoon for central defender Liam Scales, who is next to a new centre-back partner in Auston Trusty, against Ross County on Sunday.
Liam Scales’ performance in numbers
The Ireland international will be disappointed with himself for his involvement in the penalty for the home side. He left his arm outstretched when trying to block the cross and gave the referee, via VAR, a decision to make.
That left the Bhoys 1-0 down in the first-half but Scales did do a lot of fantastic defensive work to make up for his major error for the opening goal.
The left-footed titan won 11 of his 15 aerial battles and four of his four duels on the ground throughout the 90 minutes, which shows that he was largely dominant defensively and did not allow the County attackers to get the better of him very often.
Scales, who completed 87% of his attempted passes, was not the worst performer on the pitch for Celtic, despite his error for the penalty, though, as Arne Engels endured a frustrating game.
Arne Engels’ struggles against Ross County
The Belgian midfielder had registered one goal and three assists in his last four games for the club heading into this clash with Ross County, but failed to build on his superb form.
Engels, who joined from Augsburg in the summer transfer window, did create three chances but none of them were deemed to be ‘big chances’ and he failed with four of his six cross attempts, and all three of his long pass attempts.
Chris Sutton described his play in possession as “careless” during Sky Sports’ live coverage of the game, which is backed up by his pass completion rate of 81% and the fact that he lost possession 14 times.
The 21-year-old dud was withdrawn from the game in the 61st minute, with Celtic 1-0 down, and the Hoops went on to score twice and win the match after his exit from the field.
Engels, who made one tackle and failed to make a clearance, block, or interception, did not do enough to convince Brendan Rodgers that he deserved to remain on the pitch and it turned out to be a great decision by the Northern Irish head coach.
Therefore, the former Bundesliga starlet was even worse than Scales, who played the full 90 minutes and made numerous important defensive interventions, and may now be at risk of losing his place when Celtic come back after the international break.
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