Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou clears up Greg Taylor and Cameron Carter-Vickers puzzlers

By John McGinley

March 17, 2023

Ange Postecoglou doesn’t have any immediate concerns about the fitness of Greg Taylor and Cameron Carter-Vickers despite both players missing out on selection for their countries this week.

Scotland did not select Taylor and the USA opted to omit Carter-Vickers, with both camps suggesting the defenders were carrying an injury issue of some sort. However, Postecoglou confirmed they will be available for the match against Hibernian this weekend.

Asked about the issues in a media conference today, the Celtic boss said [Celtic FC YouTube]: “Like all the international players, we provide all the relevant information to the national teams and it’s up to them to decide whether they call the players up or not. From our perspective, Greg is available and will play tomorrow. It’s the same with Cameron.

“Before they go we give out the relevant information and then it’s up to the international team, their medical team and the manager to decide whether they call them up or decide to leave them this time for rehab purposes.”

It seems both players are carrying a knock or minor problem, perhaps playing through a pain barrier of some sort. A couple of weeks at Lennoxtown without travel and the pressures of international football should serve them well.

The manager clearly thinks the issues are not serious enough to count them out of big club fixtures, so nobody should be too concerned. With no midweek match since the win over Hearts, they’ll be fresh and ready to go for the visit of Hibs.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke was pretty cryptic when speaking about Taylor this week, almost suggesting Taylor was being held back by Celtic – but Postecoglou is also clearing up the responsibility lies with the countries to make call-up decisions.

What matters most to us is that both players featured in full Lennoxtown training today and are in contention to help pick up another big three points on Saturday.

In other news, Jota delivers class response to his Celtic song going viral.