With some outlets choosing to pick out and focus on single words from Ange Postecoglou’s press conference today, the manager actually made one thing perfectly clear – he doesn’t know how long Callum McGregor will be out for.
There was actually no real update from the manager on what we know about McGregor’s knee issue – it’s obviously not going to keep him out for a game or two, everyone already knew that, but the extent of it is unknown.
McGregor is due to see a specialist today, and Celtic won’t have the results of any scans back until that happens.
67 Hail Hail attended today’s press conference and this was the manager’s full answer on the midfielder’s situation, for clarity: “He’s going to see a specialist this morning, so we’ll get some more information hopefully during the day today. It’s obviously not just a short-term one, but the extent of it we’ll have to wait and see. I’ll wait until we get some accurate information, then go from there.”
Postecoglou was then asked about the chance for others to step up: “There’s a reason Callum is the captain. He’s a fantastic player and a big contributor to our football. He’s influential off the field so you can’t just replace him with one person overnight, so it’s about other people filling in the breach.
“We missed him for a few games last year as well, so it’s something we have to cope with. I’m disappointed for Callum first and foremost, he wants to be involved all the time and his performances have been super but we just have to deal with what’s ahead of us.”
Meanwhile, the manager told Sky Sports in a separate interview: “For him to come off it’s fairly significant. It’s obviously not short-term, but we’re hoping it’s not too long-term.
“The one thing you know about Callum is whatever timeline they give him, he’ll try and come back earlier. That’s what happened last year with the (cheek) fracture, he got the mask on and played.
“He’s been around long enough to know this is part of being a professional footballer, you’re not always going to play the 70 games a year. Sometimes injuries will happen and he was just a bit unlucky the other night.”
So, ultimately, we don’t know how much of a problem this will be for McGregor or Celtic. Postecoglou doesn’t either. The misleading headlines on this matter are unhelpful and hopefully, there is good news from the medical professionals today.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers Cameron Carter-Vickers latest; updates on absent Celtic trio.
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