Neil Lennon has confirmed that Marian Shved’s return to the squad will be tonight.
And analysing his chances of getting on the pitch, it looks reasonably positive for him ahead of our away clash with Nomme Kalju this evening.
As we all know by now, Lennon is going to make changes to his starting line-up. Christopher Jullien was confirmed as starting, whilst James Forrest and Callum McGregor have both been left at home. Lenny confirmed all of this at his pre-match press conference (Celtic TV).
But another thing he mentioned was the return of Shved too. The Hoops boss didn’t elaborate on whether he could feature tonight. Instead, he simply stated that Shved will come back into the squad.
Shved hasn’t been seen since the 0-0 draw with St Gallen in pre-season. That was almost a full month ago, but he’s also been training with the first-team squad over the last couple of weeks too. Finally, it looks as though he’s ready to face some action if selected.
Rotation policy tonight could mean Shved’s return to the team
It’s no secret that Lennon wants to inject some freshness into things tonight. And when you look at the players currently available, there’s no reason why Shved can’t feature.
With Forrest having been left at home, you have to imagine Lewis Morgan could get the nod down the right tonight. It would be a surprise to see the former St Mirren youngster be given the full 90 minutes, however. Outside of Shved, there’s nobody available who should be ahead of him down the right.
It feels like it all adds up to a pleasantly surprising cameo from the Ukrainian tonight, and boy could he use it.
Celtic fans are still waiting to see just what it is we’ve got in the former Karpaty Lviv man. He lit things up in Ukraine last season, and was even the third top scorer before he departed for Parkhead.
There’s plenty to like when you look at Shved’s CV, but injury has robbed us of the chance to see what he’s all about. A nice return to the team before the domestic campaign kicks off would be a nice touch.
It’s going to be a big season for the Ukrainian talent. Hopefully, tonight is the night we learn a bit more about him.
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