This weekend, Celtic take another break from Scottish Premiership action as St Mirren travel to Parkhead in the 5th round of the Scottish Cup.
It has been a busy few weeks for Ange Postecoglou and his team, who have maintained their fantastic form on the domestic front in 2023.
And on Saturday, the Bhoys will be aiming to once again reach the quarter-finals of the competition, as they did in Postecoglou’s first campaign in charge.
The Scottish Cup has historically been a strong competition for the club. So the Celtic manager will be aiming to add the trophy to his CV.
Although we face top-flight opposition in St Mirren this weekend, the strength of Ange Postecoglou’s squad means that there is the potential for a few changes to the starting 11.
The former Socceroos boss likes to tinker with his team on a regular basis. However, in the last two games, he has largely stuck with the same players.
The Bhoys’ venture into the Scottish Cup is likely going to be a good opportunity for a few players to get some valuable minutes under their belt.
Potential changes Ange Postecoglou could make on Saturday; assessed
Cup competitions are regularly known for teams switching their first-choice goalkeeper, so resting number one, Joe Hart could be an option.
That being said, the recent injury to Ben Siegrist puts that in doubt, and the Englishman has also started every Scottish Cup game he has been involved in since his arrival 18 months ago.
So we will have to wait and hear from Ange in tomorrow’s pre-match press conference regarding a switch between the sticks.
As mentioned, with the strength of this Celtic squad, you could argue that outfield changes across the pitch could be made this weekend.
Full-backs Anthony Ralston and Alexandro Bernabei haven’t been involved in much action of late, in Ralston’s case, due to injury. So a switch-up of the fullbacks could be on the way.
It feels likely that Yuki Kobayashi will also be drafted in to play alongside either Cameron Carter-Vickers or Carl Starfelt, given his involvement in the last year of this competition.
In midfield, Saturday night’s game could be seen as the ideal opportunity to rest captain Callum McGregor and hand Tomoki Iwata his first start.
Whilst Reo Hatate and Aaron Mooy have had a busy few weeks. There are more than able replacements in David Turnbull and Matt O’Riley ready to step in.
In attack, it could be anyone’s guess what that starting three will be. I would guess that we could see James Forrest and Sead Haksabanovic step in to replace Jota and Daizen Maeda, who have started the last two games.
Liel Abada is another name that could be thrown into the mix, but again, it just goes to show the attacking strength of the Hoops.
The starting striker will be the most interesting choice, in my opinion. Whilst Kyogo Furuhashi is in unstoppable form, this may be the afternoon we see Hyeongyu Oh in from the start.
The 21-year-old has looked bright in his short cameos. After a few weeks training with his new teammates, the Scottish Cup might have been eyed up as the best chance for his opening Celtic start.
First start likely, but Ange Postecoglou might not want to make wholesale changes
It may be a cup competition, but Ange Postecoglou will be well aware that St Mirren can still pose a serious threat, and that might be visible in his starting 11.
I am sure the Celtic boss would be comfortable making wholesale changes, given the strength across the board in his squad. However, there haven’t been too many occasions where Ange has done that.
Instead, it feels more likely that he might hand Hyeongyu Oh and/or Tomoki Iwata a first start, alongside a few other changes to the team.
But, a number of players could still keep their place from last weekend’s victory over St Johnstone.
At this moment in time, it is really anyone’s guess as to the sort of team we will see named at 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.
But I think it would be fair to predict that we could see up to six changes against the Buddies this weekend.
It should certainly be exciting to see if Ange chooses to hand a few of his January recruits their first starts for Celtic!
In other news, Ki Sung-yueng provides Hyeongyu Oh with Celtic lowdown; offers classy advice.
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