Ange explains his Celtic rotation stance vs Hibs as fringe players eye midweek opportunity

By John McGinley

May 23, 2023

We could see more changes to the Celtic team for Wednesday night’s trip to Easter Road as Ange Postecoglou continues to gear up his squad for the upcoming Scottish Cup final.

Admitting this period of the season in the league is ‘junk time’ for the Bhoys in his media conference today, Postecoglou also discussed his rotation policy for recent matches.

For the Australian, it’s all about making sure most of the squad has had at least some minutes on the field ahead of the Hampden clash, in case there is a late, unforeseen injury to one of his regulars.

Postecoglou said on Tuesday [Celtic FC]: “Again, it’s just about sort of using these games to get game time because I didn’t want to go into the Scottish Cup final and we get an injury on the week of the game or the week before when somebody hasn’t played for six or seven weeks.

“I thought once we won the title, I just thought, well, why not use this time to sort of give game time to the guys and make sure that whatever happens between now and the cup final, we’ve got guys who have played games fairly recently.

“We’ve had one game a week for quite a while now and there are quite a few guys who haven’t played for a long time. I was just really keen to try and get as many of them some game time so that going into cup final week we’ve got hopefully a healthy squad. But also a squad that’s actually played some football recently, so that whatever lineup I come with, there isn’t somebody who hasn’t played for five or six or seven weeks.”

With plenty of big hitters starting at the weekend, it could all mean we see some fringe players get a chance on the road. Hyeongyu Oh could come in for Kyogo Furuhashi, for example. Meanwhile, youngsters like Rocco Vata and Ben Summers continue to train with the first-team.

The manager has plenty of options in almost every position for the Hibs test and while he won’t be fielding a side that is too weakened, ultimately it’s best to use these games as preparation for a match that could deliver a historic treble.

In other news, Neil Lennon’s latest prediction bodes very well for Celtic.