Experienced Celtic duo James Forrest and James McCarthy will have late calls made on them for today’s Glasgow Derby against Rangers, the Scottish Sun reports.
Both Forrest and McCarthy have missed Celtic’s last two matches. Indeed, the Hoops have been without both men against St Mirren and AZ Alkmaar respectively.
McCarthy only signed for the club just under four weeks ago. However, as he tries to build up his fitness levels, the Republic of Ireland international has so far only played 30 minutes of action.
Forrest, meanwhile, has been a regular under Postecoglou this season. He’s featured in seven of Celtic’s 10 competitive games so far this term.
But despite Sky Sports reporting yesterday that at least one is expected to be fit for today, the Sun believe late calls will be made on both.
Celtic need as much squad depth as possible; McCarthy and Forrest inclusions would be ideal
There’s no denying that Postecoglou has been working with such a small squad since joining the club. It’s led to extensive work in the transfer window in a bid to beef things up.
You could easily argue that McCarthy and Forrest both wouldn’t make our strongest XI. Some may argue with the latter, but Postecoglou has managed to get plenty of joy with Liel Abada on the right and Ryan Christie down the left.
Celtic have some options there to mix things up if they need to. Granted, the return of both men would be ideal, especially with us having no idea how today will pan out.
It could be the case that we need the experienced brain of McCarthy to help control the game in the second 45. It could be that an added injection of pace and directness is needed, which would’ve made Forrest a strong contender.
For now, however, it appears both men are on a race against time to prove to the manager they can make an impact today.
Don’t expect either in the starting line-up.
In other news, Celtic boss addresses potential Juranovic and Scales debuts at Ibrox
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