A couple of big first-team opportunities look like being dished out on Thursday night.
Some may have Celtic vs Rennes down as a dead rubber considering both sides’ fates are sealed. Celtic have qualified whilst the Ligue 1 outfit can only finish as high as third place in the group.
However, with top spot still up for grabs as we look to stay ahead of Cluj, the injuries heading into the game haven’t been ideal.
We all knew that Hatem Abd Elhamed was going to be out, but the injury to Jonny Hayes against Livingston has been a shock. Neil Lennon confirmed that he’ll be sent for a scan (Daily Record), therefore it doesn’t look like he’ll be playing any part on Thursday night.
Hayes had only been playing in recent weeks due to another injury to Boli Bolingoli. We haven’t heard any further updates on how close he is to a return, but throwing him in on Thursday if he isn’t fully-fit would be dangerous.
Down the right, Jeremie Frimpong is ineligible as he didn’t make the Europa League squad. So, in total, we have four full-backs who look like being out for the visit of Rennes.
The back-up men
That leaves Celtic with only Moritz Bauer to fill in down the right and Greg Taylor down the left. Between them, they have a total of only five starts for the club (Transfermarkt). Both have found themselves resigned to third choice, yet incredibly have the chance to seal top-spot in our Europa League group. If they do so, it will be the first time in our history we’ve managed the feat.
But will a positive display lead to further opportunities? For us, it would seem that Taylor is the man with the real chance here, whilst Bauer could struggle regardless of his display on Thursday.
After all, Taylor is here for the long-term and has impressed at international level. A positive display against Rennes could prove plenty to Neil Lennon. It would show that he can compete and thrive at that level. That’s something that Hayes and Boli currently have over him.
Taylor is more untested than his left-back rivals. However, who knows what a positive outing could do for the former Killie man here? If Hayes is out for a period of time, it could offer Taylor that run of games he needs. Should that happen, it could be extremely difficult for Lennon to drop him out of nowhere.
However, for Bauer, it’s much tougher. He’ll most likely get game-time as the season goes on, but Frimpong will be back available for Ross County on Sunday. Given the level of praise he’s been receiving, it’s difficult to see Lennon dropping him.
Bauer was signed by Celtic before Frimpong’s emergence. But since the Dutch youngster broke into the team, Bauer hasn’t had the opportunities he originally would’ve been given.
A positive display for him vs Rennes would again prove to Lennon that he can be relied upon. Will it be enough to displace Frimpong? That seems doubtful. There’s too much potential in the youngster.
Overall, it seems like Taylor has the bigger opening of the full-backs here. Lennon might see things differently of course, but Taylor’s window of opportunity just looks that little bit bigger than Bauer’s at the current moment.
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