Anthony Ralston hobbling off with an injury on Wednesday night against Livingston was far from ideal for Celtic given a lack of personnel at right-back at the moment.
Josip Juranovic is still recovering from his World Cup exploits while Alistair Johnston cannot be officially registered to play until the start of January.
Ange Postecoglou stated in the wake of the Livingston win that he hoped Ralston’s knock wasn’t too serious, but with no sign of the defender in training photos today the smart money would be on him missing the visit of St Johnstone tomorrow, at the very least.
Unfortunately, there was no pre-match media conference this afternoon to clear it up definitively, with Celtic holding back Wednesday night comments for release due to the busy festive period.
Stephen Welsh would have been a potential solution in the position tomorrow, having played there before for Celtic and Greenock Morton – though he is nursing an injury of his own right now.
The most likely answer is giving Greg Taylor a start on the right flank. It was the Scotland international who was drafted across from his familiar slot on the left-hand side during the win over Livi. He didn’t look completely comfortable but he also did the job well and there were no errors.
That would mean Alexandro Bernabei gets a starting chance at left-back, potentially his seventh start for the club since arriving from Argentina.
Alternative options do exist though, with a change of formation or even moving James Forrest further back both more experimental potential choices for the manager.
With Postecoglou promising changes for tomorrow’s encounter, it could be one of the more interesting team announcements of the season, especially with this big unknown at right-back.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers telling media criticism that could light a new fire under Celtic.
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