Celtic are back in action on Saturday and it should be a pretty fun afternoon.
It’s our first home game in three weeks and a fair amount has happened in the intervening period. The last time we saw Brendan Rodgers and his players at Celtic Park, they were shuffling across it awkwardly after a disappointing 0-0 draw with St. Johnstone.
The reaction that day was far from positive. Things hadn’t quite reached crisis mode, but after a cup exit at the hands of Kilmarnock a week earlier, there was a genuine worry that things were heading in an unpleasant direction.
Then we rocked up at Ibrox, took three points with no supporters, and everything was well in the world. It’s a funny old game.
Okay, it’s not just that derby win that will have supporters bouncing up to the stadium for the game against Dundee. The prospect of seeing a number of players making their debut for the club is a big factor too.
Beyond beating your rivals and winning trophies, few things excite fans more than seeing new players enter the fray. We could see that in abundance against Tony Docherty’s side.
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Expect to see Nat Phillips start the game at centre-back. Luis Palma and Paulo Bernardo could also make their first starts but they may be more likely to find themselves on the bench.
Regardless, Rodgers is likely to want to get as many of his new players up to speed ahead of our Champions League campaign beginning against Feyenoord on Tuesday. That means we can expect some much-hyped debuts at long last.
Reo Hatate is also back and will feature in some way. Marco Tilio has been back in training, although we may have to wait a little longer to see him in action.
All of the noises coming out of the club since our derby win have been really positive. Rodgers seems to have his mojo back and even compared the St. Johnstone draw to our 2016 Lincoln Red Imps defeat earlier in the week.
He clearly feels this team are ready to kick on after a relatively slow start to his second tenure. We tend to agree. Today could be the actual start of the Brendan Rodgers re-era.
In other news, the Celtic support will be introduced to a new referee against Dundee