MIKA’S NOT STIG OF THE DUMPED
Forrest is still desperate for Swede to stay at Celts
Mikael Lustig has had a target on his back all season as Celtic’s most expendable player.
James Forrest insists it would be a mistake to write off the Swedish full-back. The 32-year- old, Celtic’s most decorated foreign player with 14 medals to his name in a glittering seven-year-career with the club, has spent the past 18 months hearing that the Hoops need a new man in his slot. They now have one after the arrival on loan of Jeremy Toljan from Borussia Dortmund, a short-term fix. It’s a solution to a problem that Forrest isn’t sure is actually there in the first place. The 73 times capped defender may have been vulnerable to a switch with his contract running down towards the club’s option on him in the summer, but his four assists in the laslast two games have showns he still has an appetite to protecprotect his jersey for a whiwhile yet. For Forest said: “WhatWh Mika has done for Celtic has been top class. “I ddon’t know what he is going to do at the end of the season but I hope he stays. “He’sH a top professional, he has been a great player at international in te level too and I thinkthin he’s still as fit as he has alwaysalw been. “He has been contributing the assists recently as well andan his confidence is pretty highhi just now. “The clean sheets over the lastla few weeks have probably helped from that point of view but since Mika came in he has definitely helped me.
“Defensively it’s great for me to know that he is playing behind me.
“He gives us good cover on that right side and he can also play centre-back too.
“Whatever winger plays out there, it’s good to know he’s there to help.”
Boss Brendan Rodgers remained cagey on the club’s intentions on whether to pick up the extra year on Lustig’s deal when the Swede’s current contract expires at the end of the season. Forrest insists his presence and influence alongside Scott Brown in the dressing room as much as on the park would be missed by the players if he goes.
He said: “Mika is a very strong character so I don’t think he’ll be too bothered by any criticism. It’s great for me to know he is there behind me
“He’ll just keep fighting and wanting to play at a big club like Celtic and all the boys want him to stay too.
“It will be up to him and the club obviously, but he’s a big character in the changing room as well as on the park and we all want him there.
“Broony and Mika are the two biggest characters in the changing room and on the park they both help young boys, the same as they do at training.
“I think that they are both really important players for the team.”
Meanwhile Celtic will return to the scene of a Forrest fire this afternoon when they go back to McDiarmid Park.
The winger’s four first- half goals in a 6- 0 thrashing of St Johnstone in October sett a light
under the champions’ season.
He grinned: “Everything just clicked that day.
“It was good because going into that game we had been struggling to score goals.
“We were creating chances but not putting them away so that game set us off on a good wee run.
“It was good for me personally too and that win gave everyone some confidence.”
That belief has been even more evident since their return from the winter break.
Despite both goals in the 2-0 win over Saints on Wednesday night coming within 90 second half seconds, their overall superiority to finish their game in hand with a sixpoint lead at the top of the table was a marker laid down for the rest of the league.
Forrest said: “We have had that game in hand since the League Cup Final.
“It has always been there but the manager said it was important that we made a statement by getting a good result.
“But we still have 15 games to go in this campaign and we need to make sure we’re at it right up until the end of the season.
“We obviously have plenty of experience of being in front.
“But every team we play, home or away, is making it hard for us and that’s why the league is tighter this year.
“We can’t just think that because we have gone six points clear in the table then that is going to be us. We have been right back to our best the last few games, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets but we really need to look to keep that going for the rest of the season.
‘The manager is really good in that situation though.
“At half-time on Wednesday he was really composed. “It was 0- 0 but he said he was happy with how we were playing, he didn’t want to put us under pressure and he felt that if we kept going we would create enough chances. “Once we got the goal the second arrived quickly which was good. “We then started to open up and play the way we can.” Forrest doesn’t need any more motivation than the current push for a treble treble to keep him going. Just in case he did, he got some this week with the news that Maryan Shved had been signed from Karpaty Lviv. While he has been loaned back to his Ukrainian club for the rest of this season, and will arrive at Celtic Park in the summer to challenge Forrest for the right wing spot. Forrest said: “No player is allowed to get comfortable here and think they can relax just because they have a contract. “Players need to push. You can’t expect to go unchallenged. “The manager has always said that if you get complacent that’s when you will start to come out of the team. “You need to keep doing everything you can.”