The Irish-American duo have formed a robust pairing ahead of a huge period for Celtic at home and abroad.
(Image: SNS Group)
Martin O’Neill dubbed him colossal. Liam Scales reckons he’s never seen better.
And in the context of Celtic’s season, Auston Trusty’s Bologna blockade might well be monumental.
After a month of Nancy-Ball where the champions’ defence was as watertight as a burst sieve the Bhoys backline has been restored.
And while a run of three clean sheets under O’Neill might have ended with the two second half goals conceded to the Serie A side in Thursday’s 2-2 draw, the hour-long effort with 10 men was their most impressive shift yet.
I Rossoblu registered 36 shots over the piece – 11 of which were blocked. And Trusty’s 6ft 3in frame was the barrier to the majority of those.
Scales – on his 25th Euro appearance – was no slouch either as the American and Irish duo led by example for the battling Hoops.
It was the type of backs-to-the-wall battle that can energise a season and convince punters the absence of crocked Cameron Carter-Vickers might not be so damaging.
And asked about his ever-improving partnership with Trusty, Scales said: “He’s been brilliant.
“Thursday night, I’d say it was up there with the best performance I’ve ever had from a centre-back partner.
“It felt like every ball that came in our box, it was like a magnet on his head. He was making blocks. He was absolutely brilliant.
“And that’s all playing on his weaker side. It’s a credit to him.
“That’s a difficult place to be, especially as a left-footer. It’s very rare for a left-footer to play on the wrong side.
“Even on the ball, he uses the ball really well. You know what you’re going to get from him defensively. He’s physically strong and he’s also got pace.
“We’ve played with each other enough now to know each other’s games.
“In a partnership, you want to have that. We know each other’s strengths.
“Once you have a run of games together, it gets easier and easier. You just need to concentrate and cover each other when you need to. It’s been really enjoyable.
“Thursday night I think we played well in the first half and then going down to 10 men changes how you have to approach the game. To come away with a draw, I think we would have taken that half-time.
“It would have been amazing to win the game, but you have to really look at the situation, how it developed.
“We defended really well, we had no choice, we just needed to dig in and try and keep them out of our box.
“We did that to an extent. We had some amazing blocks and tackles, but we were happy with how it went.”
Reo Hatate’s red card in Italy may have left his team mates up against it.
But Scales reckons the unity and resilience in the ranks can actually help shift the season up a gear ahead of this afternoon’s top of the table showdown with leaders Hearts.
He said: “Definitely. We don’t have to defend like that so much domestically. The games are a bit different.
“But we showed last season in a couple of games, like Atalanta away, it was a similar game. Defending the box, defending crosses, we can do it when we need to.
“That was the message that was put across after the game, that we are able to do both sides.
“You might not see that side of our game as much, but as a centre-half, I do enjoy games like that sometimes.
“It’s less about running and more about concentration. You just need to be really concentrated at all times.
“It’s nice for a change.”
O’Neill was quick to pay tribute to his first choice central pairing midweek, claiming they’ve been “really, really good” for him in both his spells in charge this season.
Scales had been in and out the side un Nancy’s ill-fated eight-game run as manager where central defenders were being asked to play much of the game in the opposition half and the Hoops conceded a staggering 18 goals.
And he says the clarity of O’Neill’s message is what’s key to the turnaround.
He said: “It’s great. It does give you the confidence.
“With the manager coming back in, we know there’s a lot of clarity.
“We know exactly what our jobs are. Our job is to defend first and everything else comes after.
“Having that clarity and having that confidence, it really does help. You feel like a better player off the back of that.
“There was just a lot of change before, a lot of things changed.
“That was the cause of the disruption, the amount of change. I don’t think it was so much to do with confidence.
“If you go a few games and you’re conceding a couple of goals a game, confidence is naturally going to drop.
“I think that’s how it happened more so than not having the clarity.
“Once you go on a run of games conceding goals, it can be difficult to regain that confidence.”
This afternoon’s blockbuster showdown in Gorgie starts a gruelling run of eight games in 27 days for Celtic.
And after playing 60 minutes with 10 men just three days ago the legs could already be weak.
But according to Scales there’s no chance the Hoops will be running on empty at Tynecastle.
He said: “I don’t think so. We have a really strong squad and we have a really fit squad.
“We’re used to playing games back-to-back, two or three days after each other. It shouldn’t really be a problem.”
