Celtic should call on evergreen Forrest to grace Hampden pitch
The 32- year- old is not ready to call time on his career just yet – not when he is still the best winger at the club
HE is a Hampden specialist. He is a Celtic historymaker. James Forrest has packed a lot into his 15 seasons at Celtic. His 105 goals and 102 assists have already seen him achieve legend status among the support. Forrest has also amassed 11 League titles, six Scottish Cups and five Scottish League Cups. In fact, with 22 winners’ medals, the winger stands just three short of Lisbon Lions Bobby Lennox’s record haul.
The 32- year- old is not ready to call time on his career just yet. Not when he happens to be the best winger at the club, according to Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers. He has amassed 22 appearances this season, playing for a total of 472 minutes, scoring three goals and contributing one assist.
Rodgers recently said this of Forrest when the veteran made a telling impact when he came off the bench to help Celtic beat Livingston 4- 2 in the quarter- final of the Scottish Cup last month at Parkhead. With the game poised at 2- 2, Forrest was introduced in the 76th minute and the No. 49 provided an assist for their fourth goal.
That prompted Rodgers to say this about him: “It gave me real satisfaction seeing him go in there and play, and the trust with James in terms of when he has the ball, he looks after the ball, he’s creative, he’s bright.
“When you have teams that pin back and you have a lot of the ball, he gives you that level of quality you want, and he was absolutely brilliant when he came on. He’s been a brilliant servant of the club, and of course, it’s probably been difficult for him the last couple of years, not playing maybe as much as he wants.
“I’ve always said in terms of quality and wing play, he’s our best winger.”
Six days later Forrest was putting the finishing touches on a 3- 1 Scottish Premiership victory over St Johnstone with a superbly taken third goal which put the result beyond any doubt.
For the doubters out there Forrest still has a contribution to make and then some. This weekend Rodgers could do a lot worse than hand Forrest the chance to start against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semifinal. The game is tailor- made for Forrest to get the nod and give Rodgers an hour or so. If the best winger is to play a part then this is an occasion that is ripe to unleash him.
Forrest has form at the national stadium of course. He has bagged six goals at Hampden Park for Celtic. Semi- finals, League Cup finals, Scottish Cup finals, lock, stock and two barrels the lot.
How’s this for an impressive Hampden CV? Forrest has chimed in with goals in; the 2014/ 15 League Cup final against Dundee United, the 2016/ 17 League Cup final against Aberdeen, the 2017/ 18 League Cup final against Motherwell, the 2018/ 19 Scottish Cup semi- final against Aberdeen, the 2018/ 19 Scottish Cup final against Hearts, the 2021/ 22 Scottish League Cup semi- final against St Johnstone.
Rodgers can do with that experience in Mount Florida this Saturday lunchtime and here’s why. Japanese winger Daizen Maeda has been ruled out with a hamstring injury for the rest of the season and that is a crushing blow for Rodgers and the Celtic supporters. There are also question marks over the likes of Nicolas Kuhn and Yang Hyun- Jun as well as Honduran winger Luis Palma who is gently easing himself back into the first team after being out with an injury. Palma has also been plagued with inconsistency since he joined Celtic and lots of fans have never really forgiven him for his criminal double penalty miss against Ross County at Celtic Park back in January during the hosts’ 1- 0 win over Ross County.
German speed merchant Kuhn hit a purple patch recently as did South Korean Yang but both failed to cover themselves in glory at Ibrox against Rangers in the biggest game of the season to date last weekend despite the champions getting out of Govan relatively unscathed with a 3- 3 draw.
There is a school of thought which also says had Forrest replaced the ineffective Kuhn on Glasgow’s southside then Rabbi Matondo would not have curled home such a wonderful equaliser in injury time. The Celtic fans believe that the wily, old campaigner Forrest would have matched Matondo’s run and shown him the outside rather than giving him the chance to execute his lastgasp effort to perfection for the Light Blues to plunder a point. There was a naivety and impetuosity of youth about Yang’s display against Rangers. It was also Kuhn’s first taste of the Glasgow Derby and it largely passed him by.
Kuhn also started against St Mirren last weekend but contributed nothing of note once again whilst Yang came on eight minutes before Forrest took to the field for the final 10. It was Forrest who was involved in the move that led to Adam Idah making it 3- 0 with his quick release pass to Palma whose ball into the box was steered goalwards by Paulo Bernardo before the on- loan Norwich City striker finally headed home.
Forrest has been over the course and distance many times. Experience counts big time at this stage of the campaign, especially when you are chasing titles and cups. He also loves a goal at Hampden. He loves the vast wide expanse of greenery in the bowl of Mount Florida. He thrives on it. Rodgers certainly has food for thought as well as options in the wide areas for this semi- final clash against the Reds.
As Rodgers said of Forrest only last month: “I think in these final games he may well have a part to play. There’s no doubt about his ability. That’s never in question. As a winger, in terms of ability, he’s the best one we have. He’s training so well and he’s keeping himself so well. He’s a top professional. He looks after his body every day and if he’s required to play then he will do.”
Could this be the chance for a Hampden swansong for one- club career man Forrest? It is not the worst shout for Rodgers and Celtic, is it?
Call on the top professional and the Hampden specialist. Let’s be honest, this is one Forrest who remains evergreen.