Tomorrow, Celtic face Hearts as the champions look to make it four wins in a row and maintain their spot at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Whilst Postecoglou’s selection has been consistent barring injury – next week is Celtic’s last of their light early-season schedule – so some rotation will likely come into play in the coming weeks.
With that in mind, here are the changes that Ange Postecoglou could make to his starting eleven for tomorrow’s game.
Centre half
The most obvious query ahead of tomorrow’s game is in defence where Cameron Carter-Vickers, ironically the only first-team centre-half not to score yet this season, has played alongside all three of Celtic’s other central defenders at some point in the league.
Whilst Stephen Welsh and Mortiz Jenz have certainly made cases for selection in their appearances so far, it’s Carl Starfelt who will re-take his position as Carter-Vickers partner after his injury sustained on international duty.
The Swede has shown previously that it can take him a little time to get back up to speed after spells out, and this will only come with a run in the side. With big games set to come thick and fast next month, there’s no better time to get Starfelt into the team and back to his best.
Midfield
Perhaps the player who will be knocking on the door for a start the most is Reo Hatate.
The Japanese midfielder had a glittering pre-season despite missing two games with a knock, and his opening day injury put an end to a fine display against Aberdeen.
Hatate is almost the archetypal Postecoglou midfielder, his drive, vision and pressing were all key to Celtic’s charge to the title in the second half of last season. With David Turnbull having a steady – if unspectacular – couple of games in his absence, it would be little surprise to see Hatate re-take his position in the “8” spot next to Matt O’Riley in Celtic’s midfield.
Attack
The least likely of the positions to see any change besides between the sticks is in attack.
The first choice front three of Maeda, Kyogo and Jota has paid dividends in the three games so far, with one or more of the three either scoring or assisting in each Premiership match so far.
Whilst their removal from the starting eleven would be more a case of rotation than replacement, Liel Abada and Giorgios Giakoumakis have been used as subs in every league match so far and are due minutes – it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see either moved in for a start tomorrow for either of the Japanese forwards. Jota’s electric start to the season makes him the least likely to be benched.
Regardless of who Postecoglou gives the nod to in these positions, Celtic have a squad with myriad options now, and these selection quandaries are good ones to have, particularly with such huge games to come in the next month.
In other news: “Go there and win”; Robbie Neilson’s bullish talk about Celtic vs Hearts
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
