Irish media right to slate Celtic star Liam Scales as dismal stats prompt 'conversation'

Celtic defender Liam Scales had a night to forget as Republic of Ireland were beaten 1-0 by Kosovo in their Nations League opener.

A late goal from Vedat Muriqi separated the sides in Pristina with the visitors ultimately lucky to escape having lost by just one.

Heimir Hallgrimsson has continued to deploy Scales as a left-wing-back, and much of the time he has been rewarded with a strong performance.

But the Celtic man was thoroughly unimpressive on Thursday, being caught out on several occasions defensively and offering almost nothing going forward.

The 28-year-old has been heavily involved for the Hoops so far this season, starting all three consecutive losses that have rocked Parkhead in the last two weeks.

Scales will hope that he has not brought the losing touch to his nation, too, with matches against Israel, Austria and Israel once more to come before the international break is over.

Irish media savage Liam Scales

Scales was faced up against dangerous Juventus winger Edon Zhegrova, and was put to the test.

But while the Irishman did get dribbled past twice and dispossessed once, he stood up fairly well, winning seven of 12 contested duels.

The Celtic defender also made three clearances, an interception, four recoveries and three tackles - the joint-most of anyone on the pitch.

But it was Scales' failure to make an impact going forward that really saw frustration in him grow. He completed just 17 of his 26 attempted passes, failing to create a single chance or take a single shot.

He did not complete a single cross, either, and made only five passes into the final third despite being situated on the left-wing.

RTE gave Scales just a four out of 10, and wrote: "The decision to start Scales at left wing-back will likely be a conversation that fans will be debating over the next few days.

"He sent in one good searching cross in the opening 15 minutes which the goalkeeper fumbled and made a bit of a mess of but bar that he didn't offer a lot."

The Irish Mirror were slightly less harsh, and wrote with a six out of 10 rating that Scales "did his best to get things going in attack down the left, but defensively it wasn’t one of his better nights."

Martin O'Neill heaps praise on Liam Scales

Scales signed a new contract in April, committing his future to Celtic until at least 2030.

While some welcomed the news, others had been hoping that there would be an opportunity to upgrade on the defender. Under-fire manager Martin O'Neill has made his position clear, however.

"I think Scales is great. Last week he played left-back even though he is a centre-back, and yet we are asking him to play almost like a wide, left-hand side player at times - that he is not," he said earlier this month.

"He has got massive heart. The couple of times I have been here, as a player he has been absolutely fantastic, really, really fantastic.

"I said to him, the last game we played, that I don't know what the club would do without him."