Cameron Carter-Vickers has opened up on the pain management he went through in the second half of last season.
The defender moved swiftly from being part of the USA squad at the World Cup Finals in Qatar to Celtic’s domestic battles starting away to Aberdeen on December 17.
Around Christmas time he felt an issue in his knee getting worse but played on, putting in a trademark performance at Ibrox on January 2 to retain Celtic’s nine point lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership.
Carter-Vickers had a mini-break between January 14 and 29 following Celtic’s Viaplay Cup semi-final win over Kilmarnock but was back on duty through a pivotal stage of the season although training sessions were limited.
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It was quite a while last season
It was long before Christmas when I initially did it. The pain wasn’t bad consistently through it. It was lulls and highs of how bad the pain would be.
It was definitely something that I needed to get sorted and now that it is I’m in a good spot.
My understanding of the injury was that the likelihood was that it was never going to get worse. So it was mainly pain management. Some weeks, I wouldn’t train at the start of the week and just come in at the end.
It was just about trying to manage the pain and then play 90 minutes on the weekend.
Throughout his pain management there was absolutely no dip in the performances put in by Carter-Vickers with his final appearance in the Scottish Cup semi-final an absolute masterclass in defending.
Knee surgery took place within a couple of days with CCV watching from the sidelines as the SPFL title was clinched with a 2-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.
After that things fell apart for the Celtic defence as they lost nine goals in three matches with just a point picked up from a home draw against St Mirren where Curtis Main scored twice and should have went home with at least a hat-trick.
By that stage of the season Brendan Rodgers was probably watching as more than a fan, taking note of the drop in defensive quality beyond Carter-Vickers.
When the former Spurs man returned to face Athletic Bilbao in the final pre-season friendly there was a sigh of relief among Celtic supporters, instantly he brought reassurance to the Celtic defence.
Whether it is Nawrocki or Gustaf Lagerbielke that joins him in central defence Rodgers will be leaning on Carter-Vickers to provide the leadership qualities that have been invaluable over the last two seasons.
