Ange Postecoglou says he'll be making some changes to face St Mirren as Celtic look to keep their winning momentum going in the Premiership.
The boss says he's not interested in revenge against the Paisley Saints but there will be a determination to put things right amid a dressing room not used to losing domestically. The Parkhead stars will be well aware that defeat to St Mirren earlier on the season is the only blotch in their otherwise spotless domestic record this season and they'll be keen to put down a marker and further ram home their advantage at the top of the league.
It's been a busy run for Celtic since the turn of the year though and Postecoglou has more or less stuck with the same core of starters. And after a bruising Viaplay Cup semi-final with Kilmarnock, he admits that may change tonight with the likes of Sead Haksabanovic and Anthony Ralston, just back from spells out with injury, put on alert.
He said on Tuesday: “It’s fair to say the game itself and obviously the conditions took a fair bit out of the boys. I haven’t kind of made final decisions yet but there will be some changes tomorrow.
“I think both because it took a fair bit out of the lads on the weekend and also we need to kind of freshen up the team I feel. So we’ll make a few changes.
"Obviously the pleasing thing for me is guys who have been out recently, Haksabanovic, Ralston, Welsh and McCarthy are all training and available. Obviously from my perspective, we’ve got some options there now and Alistair Johnston is good now after not starting the weekend game.
“It’s fair to say we’ll make some changes tomorrow off the back of the weekend game but also it’s a good one to sort of freshen up the team a bit.”
As for new signings Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata? "Tomoki, probably not yet," Postecoglou said. "He only really joined us in the last week and he has missed a bit. Yuki (Kobayashi) is close, he came to us having started a pre-season camp, so he’s had a good three or four weeks of training.
"He obviously lacks some game-time and we will probably give him some of that through the next couple of fixtures, with the quick turnaround from midweek to Saturday. Yuki’s definitely close, but for Tomoki, it will probably be another week or so before he’s in a condition to be given an opportunity."
Predicted Celtic line-up
Provisional Celtic squad
Goalkeepers
- Joe Hart
- Scott Bain
- Benjamin Siegrist
Defenders
- Moritz Jenz
- Cameron Carter-Vickers
- Alexandro Bernabei
- Josip Juranovic
- Carl Starfelt
- Bosun Lawal
- Stephen Welsh
- Anthony Ralston
- Alistair Johnston
- Yuki Kobayashi
Midfielders
- Reo Hatate
- Aaron Mooy
- Matt O’Riley
- Callum McGregor
- Oliver Abildgaard
- David Turnbull
- James McCarthy
- Sead Haksabanovic
Forwards
- Liel Abada
- James Forrest
- Kyogo Furuhashi
- Jota
- Daizen Maeda
- Giorgos Giakoumakis
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