Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic plan for sold out friendly vs Sligo Rovers

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It’s an unusual international break for Celtic in that there’s not a complete absence of first-team action while we wait for the return of the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic play Sligo Rovers on Wednesday night in a sold out friendly at The Showgrounds, giving fans across the Irish Sea a chance to see the Bhoys in their homeland.

Brendan Rodgers talked up the occasion last month after the fixture was announced, as did Rovers boss John Russell who described Celtic as “one of the biggest clubs in the world” that will bring great excitement to the area.

What kind of Hoops team can we expect for the occasion?

Well, it’s not going to be a straight youth team that you sometimes see with these mid-season friendlies, nor is it going to be an eleven packed with established talent.

Brendan Rodgers to give Celtic fringe players a chance vs Sligo Rovers

Rodgers explained in a Sunday press conference after beating Ross County: “I’ll be there. I’ll be taking the team. That plan was in place a few months back. We’ll need to recover some players. But there’s going to be a number of players that need games.

“So it’ll be a mixture of our first team players in the squad and also some of our young players because it’s my chance to see them.

“But yes, we’ll go over there. It’s always great to go back home. And then we’ll prepare them for Aberdeen.

The players who need minutes to keep Celtic sharpness

Some of Celtic’s more established players will be heading off with their countries for international duty anyway, but it sounds like we also won’t see the likes of Nicolas Kuhn or Kyogo Furuhashi in Ireland either.

It may be a chance for someone like Maik Nawrocki to get some much-needed minutes, while Luis Palma, who has not been called up for Honduras, could also use a start.

Then there’s Luke McCowan, who has yet to make a start in Celtic colours despite impressive appearances off the bench since arriving at the club.

We won’t see Colby Donovan, Mitchel Frame, or Josh Dede from the youths as they have all been called up to the Scotland U19 squad, but striker Daniel Cummings could have an opportunity to shine after scoring 12 goals in 11 appearances for Celtic B this season.