Chris Sutton has told Celtic fans to get over their goalkeeper obsession and look for changes elsewhere in Brendan Rodgers squad.
With less than a fortnight to go in the transfer window there is no doubt that the Starting XI is weaker than at their peek last season as tomorrow’s team sheet at Kilmarnock will confirm.
When Celtic lifted the League Cup in February it was probably Peak Postecoglou with a midfield of Callum McGregor, Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate.
The captain will have two different partners tomorrow, behind him Greg Taylor is the only defender in contention to make the transition from Hampden to Rugby Park.
There are a few emerging talents and squad men getting a chance but no upgrades have came in on last season’s treble winners. If Celtic want to make progress in Europe they need to find those players before September 1.
Casting his eye over the squad in the Daily Record, Chris Sutton explains:
Alistair Johnston is going to return for the Champions League at right-back and Anthony Ralston can be an able deputy on the other side.
Goalkeeper is interesting. I sense people are now looking for faults in Joe Hart. Yes he made a big mistake against Ross County which could easily have seen the concession of a goal or a penalty. But he was excellent against Aberdeen last Sunday as he took pressure off a makeshift defence.
If an upgrade on Hart is available, then that’s fair enough. But to me, the immediate issues in defence, midfield and attack are all far-more pressing. Kilmarnock are going to give Celtic a real test tomorrow.
Derek McInnes has done a great job through the summer and I was so impressed with them on the opening night of the Premiership season against Rangers.
Their intensity was too much for Michael Beale’s team and they will be the same again in this Viaplay Cup tie. Celtic need to shine on the pitch in Ayrshire and they need to start really turning up the heat in the transfer market. Put it this way, if Jota and Starfelt were still at the club, they’d be starting in Ayrshire.
So that tells me, even without injuries, the squad is weaker now than the end of last season. Rodgers is trying to develop his new-look side and he is well capable of knitting things all together, but he needs to have the right building blocks. And, right now, I can’t help but think he’s at least three short.
The two most recent signings are Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke who are both first team ready.
More is surely needed if Celtic are to enter the autumn in a position of strength. Maybe one, certainly two impact signings would transform the landscape but a fortnight into competitive action the club isn’t giving any hints that more signings are about to come in the door.
At the end of August 2021 Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Giorgos Giakoumakis were signed up- repeats of that quality would be very welcome.
1 Comment
by Johnno
At this stage of the season we are looking at squad building for the season ahead.
Rodgers has to have enough within the squad to manage a CL campaign alongside a league campaign with a league cup added in for good measure.
So squad rotation will become vital especially within today’s game and or course with injuries to contend with also.
So currently we stand at a 28 man 1st team squad, yet still 1 Scottish homegrown player short for a CL squad.
With CL in mind, and the team set up as we’ve seen to date, then yes I would agree to be at least 3 short for a CL squad to be really content with imo.
So overall a 31/32 man squad for that period up to the winter break.
So are them numbers to big, with so many missing out on being involved within CL?
Of course some could be moved on to reduce numbers, but how possible is that with being under contract with the wages involved?
A great reason for our success is keeping the unity of the squad intact, and we all seen the results of the 10iar season when that unity just wasn’t there, and a good chance of hitting the scum before long with ourselves able to dismantle what little there is at best currently.
Plenty to be done before the window closes and some very big decisions to be made still.
Biggest concern for myself currently is the team set up in what looks like a 4231, really not a fan of it and don’t believe it suits ourselves either imo.