Neil Lennon may be very tempted to make a drastic change by playing a back three in Celtic’s Champions League opener.
The Hoops travel to Bosnian champions FK Sarajevo in less than a fortnight in the first of a potential eight European qualifiers. It promises to be a challenging evening – due to the conditions, opposition and lack of defensive options.
The latter may be the most puzzling one to Lennon. Celtic had six relatively decent full-backs at the end of last season. Now just two remain.
To make matters worse, stand-out left-back Kieran Tierney is recovering from a recent hernia operation and will miss the first leg at least. That leaves just Anthony Ralston on the right as the only natural full-back available for selection.
Could Celtic adopt a 3-5-2 in Sarajevo?
Lennon may be tempted to get around that tricky situation by changing formation. He flirted with the idea of playing a back three in his first time at the club, before switching back to the tried and tested four. But with such a lack of options for the Bosnian clash, he may feel he has no other option.
He could field a back three of Kristoffer Ajer, Jozo Simunovic and new signing Christopher Jullien. That would allow him to play three midfielders in front of them, as well as wingers and perhaps even two strikers.
A 3-5-2 may allow Celtic to impose themselves on an occasion when getting a few away goals is the priority. We are a better side than the Bosnians on paper and should look to show that by starting on the front foot in their hostile arena.
Playing three centre-midfielders would help us dominate the middle of the park, while Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths would make a fearsome duo up front.
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