This weekend, Celtic will be looking to continue their perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season as we take on Kilmarnock.
The Bhoys travel to Rugby Park for their second away trip of the season, preparing to face last campaign’s Scottish Championship winners.
Of course, having only spent one year out of the top flight, many fans are well aware of the task ahead when it comes to travelling to Ayrshire.
Members of the Celtic squad, such as Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor, have experience of performing and even playing for Kilmarnock over the years.
However, after a dramatic turnaround in players during the last three transfer windows, for the majority of this squad, it will be their first time playing against Derek McInnes’ side.
It will also be Ange Postecoglou’s first time taking on the experienced Scottish manager and the Rugby Park side. But, there is no doubting that the 56-year-old will have done his homework.
Postecoglou now has the options at his disposal, which will allow him to make changes to his starting 11 against different opposition, which could have a big impact on the end result.
However, there may be one key factor that comes into the Celtic manager’s thinking when it comes to the selection of certain members of his squad.
Famously, Kilmarnock has joined fellow Scottish Premiership side Livingston in choosing to have an astroturf pitch at their home ground.
As we all know, the surface can present all sorts of different challenges for travelling away sides.
After picking up injury knocks at the beginning of the new season, the likes of Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda are expected to be back in contention for this weekend’s game.
Last Saturday also marked the return to action for Carl Starfelt, who made the bench in the 3-1 win over Ross County.
Ange Postecoglou might think twice about making some of those players available for selection, though, due to the surface which could potentially aggravate these injuries and set key members of the squad further back.
Thankfully, as mentioned, the former Socceroos boss now has plenty of quality options all over the park available to replace the returning trio.
But, I am sure there will still be some frustration on his part, with Postecoglou keen to have all options available for every game as we look to continue our strong start.
With such a hectic schedule to come over the next few weeks and months, though, you would imagine the Celtic manager will not want to take the potential risk of having some players involved on the astroturf surface.
In other news, Chris Sutton names the ‘vital’ Celtic star he believes is one of Postecoglou’s best signings.
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