James Forrest

Made a huge difference when he came on.

 

Nae bother Stevie Wonder.

 

Would love to see a video of his touches of the ball today. He literally found more St Mirren players with his passing than he did our own. Same run every time time he got the ball. Put in one good ball into the box that Kenny should have got on the end of. Blasted a good chance over the bar. Sure he was better than Yang but that wasn't a tall order. He'll have his part to play this season but it should be as a third choice winger at best.

 

He looked levels above Yang today

 

Wild. Changed the game for us..

It was basically give him the ball and make something happen from the second he got on..

 

I'm flabbergasted

 

Why? Yang was so crap it made Forrest look decent. But break his appearance down and I don't think he did much. Had McCowan not found the net with his shot, albeit slightly deflected, no one would even be talking about Forrest's cameo. It would have been 2 points dropped after a really poor attacking performance from us. Maeda had a poor game by his own high standard. Idah was shocking. Yang was a total waste of a jersey and Forrest was marginally better but still poor overall. If Forrest is the best attacker we have coming off the bench we are in serious trouble.

 

McCowan hitting the net changed the game. Forrest running at a tired defence looked decent but his actual end product wasn't there. Not buying it.

 

He’s an incredibly clever player, his use of the ball, where he moves, how he makes himself an option and how he worries defences makes them move is just a guy who has played that many games in his career he just knows the right things on the pitch.

Especially him coming on in a game we are chasing the win going into the last part of the game. Forrest has been at us for years, and has so much experience of us getting that winner through his career here, he doesn’t panic knows what to do. Experience is * invaluable and something we discount at times, with the clamour for young exciting potential.

Forrest in those situations is such a great option. I don’t like the chat around we shouldn’t be relying on 34 year old Forrest off the bench to see us through, for me that’s exactly what we should be using him as.

That’s his role for me. He should be there to be brought on for that. He has experience, quality, a mentality that is matched only by McGregor (and Tierney!) and that’s because he’s seen it so often

 

Ok..

 

Wild indeed. One of the worst takes I've read on here in a while.

 

Jamesy could be 40 and would still have more quality than Yang… light years ahead of him.

 

James Forrest says he is still enjoying every moment with Celtic but admits it’s scary to contemplate the idea of retirement.

The 34-year-old has won 13 league titles, seven Scottish Cups and six League Cup winners’ medals in a long and storied career with Celtic.

He made a goalscoring debut in 2010 and with a last-gasp equaliser against St Mirren in the final league game of last season made it 16 successive campaigns that he’s scored in.

The winger’s contract expires at the end of the season and while he is calm about the situation, he is beginning to contemplate what comes next.

“I think every player is different,” he said. “I think it’s been good for me over the years and the club has always just worked well.

“But obviously I’m getting older and I really just want to enjoy it, keep working hard and keep trying to contribute to the team when I can




When that discussion comes. I honestly just want to keep trying to enjoy every day.

“Obviously I’ve loved it here. I’ve given everything I’ve got to Celtic and I want to continue to do that.

“It’s been a really good fit up to now and I’m just going to keep enjoying it while it lasts.”

The attacker has been a one-club man in his career so far and didn’t quite rule out the prospect of playing for another team if he wants to extend his career but says he still doesn’t have a clear idea of what the future will hold.

“I have thought about it a wee bit,” he said. “I left school at 15, 16 and that’s all you have ever done and all you’ve ever known.

“So I want to keep playing for as long as I can, but yeah, it’s scary.



I’ve played with players who have retired and different people go down different paths once they finish but I don’t really know what I’ll definitely do after but I think it’s scary because it’s what I’ve done for 20-plus years and it’s been unbelievable, it’s been really really good.

“I have given everything to Celtic and I will continue to do that until my contract is up and they might shove me out the door anyway, so we will see what happens.”

 

James Forrest insists he’ll never close the door on playing for Scotland and the chance to fulfil his World Cup dream.


Celtic’s most decorated servant has done almost all there is to do in the game having lifted an astonishing 26 major honours at Parkhead.



Capped 39 times for his country, he was also named in both of Steve Clarke’s Scotland squads for the European Championships in 2021 and 2024.

One of the few achievements still to be ticked off the 34-year-old’s bucket list, however, is a World Cup appearance.

Clarke’s team will kick off their bid to reach next summer’s North American finals when they face both Denmark and Belarus in next month’s double header.



And while it’s now 14 months since his last international appearance, Forrest is refusing to rule out playing a part this time round.

He said: "I spoke to Steve Clarke a couple of times at the start of last season but then I got a really bad injury in December which kept me out for a few months.

“But the main thing for me has always been making sure I'm playing well for Celtic and then if Scotland comes along, great.


But no, I've not spoken to Steve this season. I just want to do well for Celtic in the games coming up and then we'll just kind of see from there.

“When I had the conversation with Steve last year, it was a good one. It was after I’d gone to the Euros and didn't play. He said if he needed me, then he'd give me the call and it was just kind of left like that.

“So as I said, it's always kind of open and I would never shut the door.


Next year’s World Cup will be the biggest football extravaganza FIFA have ever thrown after expanding the tournament to 48 teams.

And Forrest would hate to miss out.

"I think as with any player, you want to play in the top competitions,” he said. “You want to play Champions League, you want to play for your national team.


Obviously I've done a lot of stuff already in my career.

“But the World Cup is at the end of the season, there's qualifiers and that as well, so I don't want to think too far."




But Forrest believes he can still make a major contribution for club and country, even though he’s now reached veteran territory.

He said: “The sports scientists, the manager, they look at training every day and see that when I come on at the weekend, I made a contribution. I want to keep performing for Celtic and I think I can keep offering that."

Forrest missed out on what would have been a 27th winners’ medal in May when Aberdeen crashed the Hoops Treble party to * the Scottish Cup.


But Forrest insists revenge won’t be on his mind as the Premiership and League Cup winners head to Pittodrie this weekend.

“The cup final was hard. I've had a couple of those disappointments at the start of my career but then we went on to have a really good spell.

“It shows you how well all the different teams over the years have done, winning and being so successful.


But Aberdeen are one of the best teams in Scotland and I think every time you play them, there's a rivalry there anyway.

“You go to Pittodrie and we all know it's a hard game, so I don't think we'll look much into the cup final.

“It's a new season and we want to get off to a good start and just keep the momentum going, and hopefully get another three points."

 

Think this could be his player of the year season

 

Oh yeah its really one of the worst takes on a forum full of them. Watched the highlights of the game back and saw some player stats for the day. Forrest got a 6.2 rating. He completed 20 out of 25 passes, didn't manage to find a player with any of his 5 crosses, created 0 chances and missed his only shot. So the stats pretty much back up exactly what I said, he made plenty of the same run with the ball but did absolutely nothing with it. Not a single one of our attacking players had a good game.

 

In your post you said Forrest was 'garbage'. That was both inaccurate and stupid, so aye one of the worst takes I've read on here in a while.

 

Perhaps garbage was a tad harsh, I was annoyed after watching that game and vented a bit on here. As we all do. But his performance certainly wasn't anything to shout about and I would still class it as poor. Not that I'm blaming Forrest directly we offered nothing as a team up front. Couldn't believe the narrative on here that he "changed" the game when we were still just as crap after he came on. As I said, the stats don't make for great reading either.

 

The 6.2 rating is arbitrary and meaningless and stats without context don't tell the full story. He changed the game in that we had an actual outlet on the right wing after he came on, whereas we had nothing before. I don't think anyone was claiming he came on and beat St.Mirren by himself, he came on and did his job well. His pass completion you posted is fine if accurate, especially for an attacker who will play balls into the opposition box.

His experience has given him a lot of great off the ball movement. He understands where he needs to be and when, which is a world of difference from what he replaced. He had moments like in the 67th minute where he carried the ball up the pitch after we were under pressure, which lead to McGregor's disallowed goal. He troubled their defence on the 71st minute with a through ball that Idah should have done better with, by hitting a shot. So much of our attacking momentum went down his side after he came on. His work rate showed in the 74th minute where he had the ball on the right wing, ran across the box and played it out to Scales, then ran into the box to try and create an opening and for Scales to thread the ball through to him. One of his crosses in the 80th minute was dangerous and could've ended up in the back of the net. There was another dangerous run in the 82nd minute from Forrest that opened their defence up, but the cross from Johnston was blocked. His run in from the wing was the start of the play that eventually led to McCowan's winner.

But his shot on goal was pish, I'll give you that.

 

I agree with you that he adds much needed experience and offers far more than Yang on the right. Yang had a truly miserable game and the bar set for that side of the park was so low I think Sinisalo would have done a job there that would have looked an upgrade. I have no issues with Forrest playing or being an option. His days of playing 90 mins are done though by the looks of it and I think he's better utilised off the bench when the defence has tired. I appreciate he came on and tried to play with some urgency due to the scoreline but felt he ended up trying too hard as a result. Can never fault his attitude or commitment.

The McGregor disallowed goal actually came about after a truly rotten attempted pass by Forrest, but granted you need to be there to try something. He was guilty of one dimensional running and overplaying in several of our attacks though. The one good cross he did put in could have been a goal if Kenny had attacked it rather than waiting on it coming to his foot. His other crosses were really poor though. Whether that's down to poor decision making or feeling the weight of expectation on his shoulders to make something happen I'm not sure. He obviously has had to adapt his game due to getting on a bit. For me the game changed when McCowan and Engels came on. We benefitted more from the fresh legs in the middle of the park and moving the ball a bit quicker and McCowan is brilliant at finding a little bit of space round the edge of the box we saw it plenty last season. I don't think the 2 of them got enough credit for the part they played. Engels hit a stinking corner or two right enough but definitely brought some urgency and fight with him.

The problem we have is there's just no depth in that front line. I'm happy for Forrest to be 3rd choice winger and get some minutes. But if we're relying on bringing him on when the scores are level or worse to change games we're in big trouble. Daizen only left winger available. Idah in poor form. Other strikers untested at this level. Yang back to being garbage after looking a bit better in preseason. Once we play better opposition I really fear where the goals are going to come from.