Pundit questions why Celtic star was omitted from Ireland starting XI | OneFootball

Irish pundit Shane Keegan has questioned why Celtic defender Liam Scales was not included in the Irish Starting XI against England over the weekend. The 26-year-old was benched for the game despite the new manager playing a back three.

Speaking to The 42’s Football Family podcast, Keegan questioned why Scales was not given the nod for the game in Dublin at the weekend.

“Has Heimir Hallgrímsson, John O’Shea or anybody given any reasoning behind Liam Scales not starting the England game?

“If you’re playing three at the back then the left-sided centre-half has to be left-footed.

“We’re not stuck for a left-footed player to play in that role at the moment. Liam Scales is flying.

“Ok, you can argue the merits of the level that he’s playing at, but he had just come out of the Rangers game where he had played extremely well.

“What could possibly suggest from what Liam Scales is doing at the moment that he wasn’t good enough to be in that starting 11 vs England?”

England won the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who have both previously been capped by Ireland at youth levels.

The backhanded compliment paid towards Scales by Keegan relates to the Scottish game but he is not far away because Scales was playing Champions League football last season. Scales faces added competition from Auston Trusty, who arrived from Sheffield United for £6m on Deadline Day. It will be interesting to see how Scales gets on in terms of retaining his position against the added threat from the USA Internationalist.