Brendan Rodgers has spoken ahead of Celtic’s clash with Hibernian tomorrow and has touched on how squad rotation is a big part of his thought process.
The Bhoys have ample competition for places across the board, which has created some key selection dilemmas over the last few weeks.
Looking at recent times, Paulo Bernardo and Arne Engels have been swapped around within Celtic’s midfield, while Luke McCowan is edging closer to a run of regular starts after his move from Dundee.
Greg Taylor and Alex Valle have shared left-back duties, while Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah rotate regularly in the number nine role.
Due to a commanding fixture schedule including clashes against Hibernian, Dinamo Zagreb and Rangers over the next nine days, expect changes as Brendan Rodgers has vowed to keep legs fresh at Celtic to combat overworking key men.
Obviously, this is a practice most managers will tap into, but not everyone has the required tools to replenish their starting line-up, which is something the manager is wise to.
Brendan Rodgers on Celtic and squad rotation potential
Speaking ahead of Celtic’s clash against Hibernian tomorrow, Rodgers has shared delight at the options he has at his disposal and hinted that more alterations could be set to occur across the coming weeks.
He stated: “Not really, we were doing that anyway, so I think for me it’s just about using the squad. I have total trust in the group of players to play, so whatever team we’ll send out for tomorrow goes out to attack the game.
On the Bhoys’ squad update, he stated before talking selection processes: “No, we’re all good. We’re in a really, really good place, and I think that is also part of the rotation. I think what enables us to do that, if you don’t have the depth to the squad an the strength in your squad, you’re maybe having to play players for 90 plus minutes, three times a week, playing them all the time.
“Which is then, you have a greater risk of injury. What we’ve been able to do is, manage the minutes of the players, and when there has been a little niggle we can maybe take someone out, or if someone has played a lot more minutes, then we have that possibility to take them out, that’s the benefit of having a depth of the squad.
“I’ve really enjoyed that aspect of it, picking the teams to put out and giving that opportunity for some of them to have some breathing space. It also can depend on the game your playing and what it is you want from the game, that’ll decide who plays also.”
Celtic rarely encounter a drop-off in quality when rotating
Evaluating recent matches, supporters would subscribe to the theory that they haven’t witnessed much of a drop-off in quality despite evident rotation from the manager.
Last weekend’s home victory over Ross County paints the perfect example, as the Bhoys were 5-0 up in the first half after changing several faces following their exploits against Club Brugge earlier in the week.
Whoever starts tomorrow, the job will be to continue building after a tremendous start to the campaign. Hibernian won’t be a straightforward test, but three points are all that matter in Glasgow’s east end.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
