All eyes will be on Celtic’s XI for their trip to VfB Stuttgart in the Europa League on Thursday.
If it’s up to Charlie Mulgrew, he wouldn’t start Callum McGregor, as he expressed concern at how many games the Celtic captain is playing this season.
Mulgrew stated that the way McGregor is being used this season is going to ‘take its toll as a human being.’
“His mindset,” said Mulgrew on The Breakdown. “Having to churn out, be a captain and dictate the tempo for Celtic every single game, for that amount of games, it’s going to take its toll as a human being.”
With Celtic 4-1 down to Stuttgart from the first leg, Martin O’Neill has a chance to rotate his XI, in Germany, including giving McGregor a rest, especially with the Rangers game around the corner, but you wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen.
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Charlie Mulgrew worried about Callum McGregor getting no rest
Celtic were beaten by Hibernian at the weekend, days after getting outclassed by Stuttgart, and Mulgrew admitted he wouldn’t have even started McGregor for that first leg Europa League playoff encounter.
The 32-year-old played 90 minutes in both matches, as he is yet to miss a game for the Hoops this term, starting 43 out of 44 games.
That’s why Mulgrew is expressing his concern at McGregor starting again, and again and again for Celtic, without his mind and body getting a rest.
“I said Callum McGregor should never have played against Stuttgart because, if he gets injured, not only if he gets injured,” said Mulgrew.
“His mindset. Having to churn out, be a captain and dictate the tempo for Celtic every single game, for that amount of games, it’s going to take its toll as a human being.
“He needs to rest his mind and body.”
Have Celtic made a mistake in the Europa League?
As soon as Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League by Kairat Almaty in August, you knew further trouble was around the corner.
From Mulgrew’s perspective, he thinks the champions of Scotland ‘never’ had a chance of winning the Europa League, so he would have gone about it differently from the get-go.
The former centre-back suggested that Celtic should have played the youngsters in Europe, and then focused on defending their Scottish Premiership title, which is slipping away from them.
“Time is running out (in the league),” said Mulgrew. “Celtic need to get away from Europe. I said it before the Stuttgart game, it’s just a distraction. They are never, ever going to win the Europa League.
“You need to take into context this season. This season has been a disaster. So, now at this point, Martin O’Neill is here, and I know it’s hard for Martin O’Neill to come in and say, ‘right, we aren’t going to try in the games.’
“But what I would have done is if I were Martin O’Neill, and they must have made a decision on it. I would have said, ‘Listen, we need to sacrifice Europe this year, so we are going to give young players experience. Fringe players experience. We are just going to let that peter out, and we are going to focus on (the league).’
“There is no doubt that the Stuttgart game has affected the Hibs game.”
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