Blogs

The generation game

|

Marcus Fraser Celtic newsCeltic coach Stevie Frail had no worries over changing his tried and tested defence for Saturday’s win over Dundee United.

Stephen O’Donnell’s suspension gave Marcus Fraser his u-19 debut with the change causing minimal disruption as Celtic ran out 4-1 winners.

Until Saturday Frail had been able to pick the exact same defence in front of Robbie Thomson in every match this season.

The new bhoy didn’t look out of place alongside Lewis Toshney, Matty Hughes and Kieran Brennan as Celtic bounced back from the disappointment of their midweek draw at St Johnstone.

Next season Fraser is expected to be a regular in the youth side with Frail excited by the prospect of working with the next batch of players coming through the Celtic Academy.

“We had no qualms about bringing Marcus in,” Frail said. “He’s been doing well, training every day with the u-19 squad and has been full-time this season.

“We know how good a player he is and I was delighted with his performance on Saturday.

“Our u-17s are very good, it’s just a case of keeping them progressing. They’ll make up the bulk of the u-19s next season.

“There are guys like Marcus, Joe Chalmers, John Herron, Paul George, Islam Feruz, Mo Yaqub and others all ready to step up. They are all there and we knew the quality that we have coming through.”

Fraser and six other Celtic team-mates are in the Scotland u-17 squad that will face Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with the group winners going forward to the 8 team European Championship finals to be held in Serbia in May.

The Scotland squad fly out to Italy on Saturday and have games on March 9, 11 and 14.

On Saturday Celtic’s u-19 team are at home to St Mirren with Aberdeen the visitors on Tuesday.

The hunger question

Follow Video Celts on TwitterFacebook and YouTube

[bet_365 type=’generic’ size=’468′ af_code=’365_050711′]

Share this article

Online and independent- the only way to be. Enjoying instant news access and reaction, following the trends if not an influencer!