Celtic defender Greg Taylor has been comparing the current Hoops squad to the one that entered 2021 after the brutal winter break last term.
The Hoops went to Dubai after losing to Rangers in 2020 and were vilified due to it occurring in the middle of the pandemic. It was a total PR disaster for the club, with matters going from bad to worse when as many as 16 players missed the first game after the restart.
That clash was against Hibs. Unsurprisingly, we only managed a 1-1 draw with many of our first-team stars ruled out. Thankfully, we’re in a much different situation this year. Celtic have a host of injured stars returning plus new players to look forward to seeing tonight.
Not too much of a surprise then that Taylor sees a vast improvement compared to last term in terms of preparation. As quoted by the National, the defender brilliantly quipped: “Aye well we don’t have 16 missing for Monday, so definitely! That’s certainly a start. No squad can handle losing 16 players, so thankfully, we’ve not got that amount missing.
“Exactly, the gaffer has touched on that, we’ve had challenges throughout the whole period since he came in. But we’re not looking to make excuses for ourselves, we just take each game as it comes and try to play the way we want to play.
“Now we’re coming into the business end of the season, and hopefully we can put on more performances and the results will take care of themselves. We always want to improve. The gaffer is a big believer that every game, every training session is an opportunity to do that.”
Greg Taylor not wrong; Celtic looking much healthier than 12 months ago
The situation now compared to 12 months ago is unrecognisable. Even if we’re still 6 points behind in the title-race, there’s a feel-good factor about the club at the moment which wasn’t present at any stage in the second half of last season.
Celtic are coming back from the winter break in great health. Their best players look close to fully-fit ahead of some huge games, whilst the new Bhoys have injected a fresh layer of excitement to proceedings.
Not to mention the fact that the support remains behind Ange Postecoglou 100%. The relationship is nowhere near as toxic as Neil Lennon’s was with the supporters at that period in time.
Of course, we can’t fully gauge just how well the break went for us until we’re in action tonight. Last year, Celtic slumped to a 1-1 draw against the Easter Road side in their first game back. A similar result tonight would be a clear catastrophe.
Not that it’s something Ange Postecoglou is planning of course. With the Premier Sports Cup under his belt – a trophy we also failed to secure last season – he’s feeling pretty good about himself.
Hopefully, that shows on the pitch tonight.
In other news, Shaun Maloney had Hibs doing triple-sessions in preparation for Celtic Park trip
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