Alistair Johnston

It'd be funny if he grew a beard and we could call him the new McGrain.

 

SUCH was the form of Josip Juranovic last season, and the renaissance enjoyed by Anthony Ralston, that the departure of the former and an injury to the latter would at one time have had Celtic fans breaking out in a cold sweat ahead of a crunch game against Rangers.






Not now, and as far as Tom Boyd is concerned, that is because Ange Postecoglou has unearthed a player who possesses the best of both right-backs in the form of Alistair Johnston. The Canadian international was thrown in for his debut at Ibrox back in January and excelled, and he has pretty much done so ever since.


He put in another barnstorming full-back performance in the win over Celtic’s city rivals last weekend that all-but wrapped up a second successive Premiership title, with an uncompromising defensive showing allied to a willingness and capability to get up the right flank and support the attack.




It was just the latest in a long line of displays that have ensured the Celtic support have gotten over the departure of Juranovic in quick-smart fashion, and have now taken Johnston into their hearts.

“I said to him after the game he was like a mini (Cameron) Carter-Vickers,” Boyd said.

“He’s got such great physique and he just refuses to get pushed around.

“Josip Juranovic was a fantastic player for Celtic, and Tony Ralston is terrific as well. But Johnston is like a mixture of the two of them. He’s got that great mix of strength and ability.

“I’ve been so impressed with him. What a find he has been. He’s come in at hit the ground running.

“Johnston made his debut at Ibrox. It doesn’t get much tougher than that, but he coped really well and has never looked back. That’s him played in three derbies and he’s not been on the losing side yet.




You look at the way he handles the physical battle and the pressure, he seems to really enjoy it.

“He looks made for this fixture. He was terrific at the weekend.”

 

The more I look at it, the more it's a foul.

 

Alistair Johnston has side-stepped treble talk as he revealed he and his Celtic teammates are "laser focused" on their next opponent.

The Hoops are closing in on the Premiershiptitle having already secured the Viaplay Cup trophy and then at the end of this month there's the small matter of a Rangers derby in the Scottish Cup semi-final. Johnston and co are not ready to overlook any opponent, though, with Kilmarnock the next in line on Sunday afternoon.



And though the Canadian right-back, 24, understands there's still the chance of collecting all the silverware available domestically, he insists he won't get carried away until the trophies are sitting in the cabinet.




No I don't think anyone in our squad is thinking about that," Johnston said when asked about the treble.

"Our leadership is too strong, we have guys here who have been here for decades now it feels like. Cal (McGregor), James Forrest and guys like that who have lifted plenty of trophies in their time and they don't let any of us get caught up in the treble or anything like that.

"It's just focusing on training every day, Kilmarnock on the weekend. There's plenty of big matches still to be played and if we continue at the level we can, we feel confident we can pick up three points and if you do that you put yourself in a position to do something special at the end of the season."

 

“Hullo Alistair, do you think you have noticed people taking it more seriously these days at Celtic?”

“Nah mate it’s been the same since I walked in the door”.

Clamped.

 

Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston has revealed the secret behind the competitive streak to his game.

The Canada international has played 15 times for the Hoops since joining from MLS side CF Montreal in January.

He has not been afraid to jump out of a tackle at Parkhead and the 23-year-old credits club captain Callum McGregor with installing the will to win in the team.

Speaking ahead of the Scottish Premiership match against Kilmarnock, he said: "It's the foundation of my game to a degree. You have to have technical ability to be playing at this level.

"But if you take away my desire and my competitiveness I'm not nearly the same player as some of the guys.

"I know what I need to bring if I want to play for Celtic. It's part of me, it comes back to my family, my childhood - growing up in a family of three boys where I was the middle child and everything was a competition, a battle.

"In sports too, playing hockey. It's a huge thing for us growing up in. Canada. We love to hit people and get in to it but its also about camaraderie.

"If you hit one of my players, one of the most skilful guys, it's my job to go and back them up.

"You could see it with the national team, we've brought on that identity. I try to bring that to Celtic.

"You can see it with Cal (McGregor). I think in the last match I got knocked over and I turned around and he was already in there pushing someone for me and I was like 'Mate, that's my job! Get out there'"

 

Love it. Players like that are like gold dust. To get one that’s both hard and can play? We’ve won a watch.

He is better than Juranovic. Not even close.

 

He’s came in right away and been absolutely amazing

 

Cheers for reiterating my point Botorious.

 

Hopefully this guy can go up another level - I think he can. The first few matches you always got the impression that he was playing within himself as he learnt the system, but recently you're starting to see more runs down the wing, more crosses and more incisive passing. His attitude and determination are first rate.

 

You broke my phone. Thanks for that.

You need to understand your powers.

 

Love him

 

Alistair Johnston on Celtic fan adulation and why gap to Rangers could get bigger
Alistair Johnston was already becoming a darling of the Celtic support, but his man-of-the-match performance in last weekend's win over Rangers has sent his reputation soaring.



The Canadian right-back has been a revelation since joining from CF Montreal at the end of last year, straight on the back of making three appearances for his country at the World Cup in Qatar. The 24-year-old had previously shown that he could handle the Old Firm environment after making a strong Celtic debut in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox on January 2 before starring in the Viaplay Cup final win at Hampden in February.

He revealed he has been stopped in the streets by adoring Celtic fans in the aftermath of Saturday's 3-2 win that has all but wrapped up a second consecutive Premiership title for the Parkhead side. While appreciative of the acclaim for his own efforts, Johnston admits the patchy overall display of the team has been his main concern.





We kind of stay off social media so we don't get too much of it, but I've gotten a lot of nice text messages and people on the streets have said some really nice things about it which is always a nice feeling," Johnston said. "At the same time I don't think we played particularly well. We strayed a little bit from our football so the exciting part is that we still won the match but we know that there's levels to that and we can play so much better than that. And that's what's exciting about this group. We're only scratching at the surface of our potential.


I'm just really excited to be a part of it. I've already seen some growth within my game in handling those atmospheres and those moments. That was already my third match against Rangers and I've really enjoyed them. Those kinds of matches are why you signed for this club. You want to play in those big matches that mean that much to both yourself and your supporters. I've been quite happy with my performances in those matches and especially this past weekend."

Johnston credits Rangers with “frustrating” his side last Saturday, but he insists that Celtic are capable of taking their game to even greater heights, potentially widening the gap that already exists between the Old Firm rivals. "I think they've tried a couple of different things now tactically and in this past match I think they definitely did some things that frustrated us so that's kudos to them but at the same time our biggest aim is to get out of there with three points and we've done that," he said. "That's what was most important for us. A lot has been made about closing the gap but we're not focused on that. We're just focused on ourselves and we know that if we continue to get that one per cent better every day and continue to reach for the potential that we know this group has then we feel really good that not only are we going to maintain a gap, or whatever you want to call it, that we can push on to new heights and new limits. We know if we keep doing that the sky's the limit for us.”

 

94th minute and he bursts a lung getting into the box when we're already winning 4-1.

I cannot explain how much I rate and love him.

 

That tackle