IN ADVERSITY, IT'S TIME FOR NEW CELTIC HEROES TO EMERGE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
There’s no denying that Thursday night’s Europa League win over Sturm Graz took a heavy toll.
It seems now that Celtic will have to make do without Kelechi Iheanacho, Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers for several weeks, if not months.
We’ve also got massive question marks hanging over the fitness of Daizen Maeda. That’s 4 first team starters missing. Then we also factor in the reality that Kieran Tierney has yet to play three consecutive games in a 7-day period since returning to Celtic Park. So, there are obvious questions about his match fitness too.
So, we head to Tynecastle tomorrow to play a Hearts team who are, on merit, top of the league, with the prospect of slipping significantly further behind them if we fail to win.
The Edinburgh side have put themselves in such a strong position, that even if Celtic win, and win well, tomorrow, it still wouldn’t displace them from the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Amidst Injury Crisis, New Celtic Heroes Can Emerge
I’ll be 42 in a few weeks, so I guess I am old enough to qualify as a “Celtic Da”. I’m certainly old enough to remember the early 90s when going to Tynecastle and coming away with a point would have been considered a genuinely positive result, such was the utter mediocrity of Celtic at that time.
However, something I have learned in the 3 and half decades that I’ve been actively following Celtic is that we often save our best performances for when we have been totally written off.
Now, that’s not the case tomorrow. Most bookmakers still make Celtic the favorites to win the game. However, there’s no denying last week’s collapse at Dundee coupled with the injuries sustained in mid-week, despite a great result, have many of us feeling somewhat pessimistic.
As I said though, in adversity, Celtic often seize opportunity, and I think tomorrow is one of those days. It’s a time for the team to pull together, it may also be a time for some more radical tactical decisions and team selections from the manager.
I slated the manager for last week’s showing at Dundee and the tactics deployed, so it’s only fair that I also credit him with the ingenuity and inventiveness he showed on Thursday to guide Celtic through a tough European tie, against quality opposition, where we lost two of our key players during the game, and another immediately afterwards.
We need more of that tomorrow. I personally would love to see us deploy a 3-5-2 formation. This would allow us to play both Kieran Tierney and the impressive Marcello Sarrachi. It would also, in the absence of Daizen Maeda, allow us to play two strikers.
This, in turn, may open up an opportunity for both Shin Yamada and Johnny Kenny to show what they can do, when it matters most. In short, we could see new and unexpected Celtic heroes emerge tomorrow.
I also hope that Dane Murray is given a chance to fill in at center back for the crocked Carter-Vickers. He’s young, he’s raw, but his talent is undeniable, and for me, he’s done everything asked of him and more whenever he’s been called upon thus far.
I expect an entertaining game tomorrow. Unlike most teams we face in Scotland, Hearts will come into this game with genuine belief that they can outplay us and attack Celtic with confidence.
Strum Graz did this on Thursday, and while things did look a but dodgy when they hit the post at 1-0 up, we ultimately got the job done. I believe Celtic will do so tomorrow too.
