Brendan Rodgers is intending to give as many Celtic players minutes as possible on Tuesday night against Athletic Club, believing some in the squad still need match time to build sharpness ahead of the competitive season.
We’re now less than a week away from the Scottish Premiership campaign kicking off at home to Ross County. It will be a special flag day at Paradise and everyone is eager to get the first three points on the board.
Before that though there’s the small matter of James Forrest’s testimonial match, with a La Liga outfit visiting Glasgow for a special night at Celtic Park.
While Rodgers will of course want it to be a joyous occasion for his winger, from a professional point of view it’s simply another opportunity to build fitness in his squad. And that’s why Celtic fans will be seeing two elevens on the field.
The Celtic boss confirmed that in the wake of Saturday’s entertaining draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Presumably, it will be a similar set-up to the fixture away to Gamba Osaka in Japan, with a full turnaround in the starting eleven at half-time.
It will be the first chance for home supporters to see the second Rodgers era in the flesh, with a few new signings ready to make their Celtic Park bow. Odin Thiago Holm, Hyeokkyu Kwon and Hyunjun Yang should all be involved, while there’s even a chance Maik Nawrocki recovers from an ankle knock to get minutes.
Like all of our pre-season games, the result matters little. However, fans will still be eager to see the team working towards a peak and showing improvement in performance.
The goal is hitting that peak for the visit of County and beyond, with games coming thick and fast once the campaign starts. It’s time to start seeing what these players are truly capable of under the new manager.
In other news, Darren O’Dea explains how Brendan Rodgers inspired “massive jump” in Celtic star’s development.
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