BEFORE the start of pre-season, you would have found it difficult to find any fan that would have believed that Anthony Ralston would still be starting for Celtic come the end of October, never mind thriving.

Ralston has been met briefly with the challenge from Josip Juranovic for the right-back spot. However, due to squad depth issues, the two have rarely been able to compete for the position with Juranovic either playing at left-back or sidelined with injury.

Now with the left-back position having more depth with the positive return of Boli Bolingoli and Juranovic returning from injury, Ange Postecoglou will surely have a decision to make on who his starting right-back will be.

Using StatsBomb, we can look at the players in more depth and examine how they have performed so far this season.

Full-backs under Postecoglou’s system need to be athletic in order to implement the high-intensity pressing tactics and get up and down the park to defend and provide offensively. They also need to be composed on the ball as they are required to come inverted into the central areas, collect the ball and progress it forward.

Juranovic v Ralston

Celtic Way:

The first attribute to focus on is athleticism.

In Celtic's system this is best measured by the pressures a player can exert on an opposition player. For this categorisation, Juranovic is far superior to Ralston.

For comparison, the Croatian full-back attempts 13.26 pressures per 90 minutes, ranking in the 63rd percentile in the Scottish league. His competition ranks only at the sixth percentile on 8.12 pressures per 90, indicating Ralston is one of the weakest in the entire league in this regard.

Another aspect attributed to athleticism is PADj Interceptions where both rank very highly in the league (99th percentile). However, Juranovic has makes more PADj interceptions at six per 90 compared to just 4.95 per 90 from Ralston.

This metric involves a lot of athleticism as the players have to put themselves into contention to win the ball with their movement, but also indicates game intelligence by means of positioning themselves to win possession.

READ MORE: Who should be Celtic's left-back? Greg Taylor, Boli Bolingoli and Adam Montgomery analysed

Composure on the ball is another major aspect in successfully playing the inverted full-back role.

Juranovic unsurprisingly dominates Ralston in possession as well as in effectively progressing the ball to team-mates accurately.

With passing accuracy Juranovic ranks in the 99th percentile at 90 per cent passing accuracy with Ralston only having 81 per cent (84th percentile). In deep progressions, Juranovic outdoes Ralston at 10.09 per 90 to 8.52.

Most importantly, in turnovers, which determines how often a player loses possession, Ralston ranks extremely low in the league in the 13th percentile with 2.3 per 90. Juranovic is significantly better off in this regard with 1.44 per 90, ranked in the 44th percentile. High-risk forward passing can lead to a lot of turnovers so a Celtic full-back needs to be as accurate as possible.

Ralston comes out better in terms of dribbles per 90 and xGBuildup but this is likely due to Juranovic playing mainly on the left side where his crossing ability can’t be utilised and he has to come infield to try to beat his man.

Conclusions

Ralston has performed better than anyone expected, but that shouldn’t overshadow what is best for the Celticr starting XI.

Juranovic is more gifted technically and offers more of what Postecoglou needs in his high-intensity system. Ralston should be used to manage Juranovic’s minutes, providing cover when necessary.

It is no slight on Ralston to be second choice to an experienced international defender. He is, after all, still young and will continue to develop under Postecoglou's tutelage.