Alex McLeish includes Celtic winger in squad for upcoming fixtures
Monday 1 October 2018 21:20, UK
Celtic winger James Forrest says he is not reading too much into his recent Scotland exclusion and will be ready when called upon by Alex McLeish.
The 27-year-old started in four World Cup qualifying wins last year, but did not feature at all in last month's games against Belgium and Albania.
McLeish did not start with wingers in those games, using his wing-backs for width instead, but he has picked Forrest in his latest squad for games against Israel and Portugal, live on Sky Sports.
"He spoke to me after the Albania game and just said it wasn't to be for those two games but he said I was still in his plans," Forrest said.
"Every time you go away it's different formations and not always the same team so I just need to keep working hard, not look too much into it and be ready for the next two games coming up."
He added: "Obviously I was disappointed. If you ask any player, if they don't play, they'll say that. At the same time, I was glad we got the good win against Albania."
Forrest's immediate concern is Celtic's Europa League encounter at Salzburg as they look to build on their opening group win over Rosenborg.
"We've started with one out of one so far in the Europa League so we'll take confidence from that," Forrest said.
"But we definitely know they're going to be a difficult team and they got a good result in their first game as well.
"Every game in Europe, home and away, is always tough so we know we need to be ready right from the start and put in a good performance."
