We’ll soon find out if Michael Beale has spent the week playing mind games with Ange Postecoglu or if our injury list really is as bad as the Gers gaffer has made out.
He has always been honest, sometimes too honest, but surely he hasn’t been naive enough to give the Celtic manager his line-up days before the first Old Firm cup final of the season.
Beale has said that we will be pretty similar to last week but that he hopes to have a couple of players back in time, hopefully, this is who he will be able to send out:
I really thought that Kemar Roofe was going to start this game – he might still do – but the revelation that he had a “slight issue” after the Livingston game suggests that he will have to be content with a place on the bench, at best. His ability to finish the chances that others miss could be the difference in a winner-takes-all game.
In Alfredo Morelos, we have a striker with a point to prove, his last performance against Celtic at Hampden saw him spurn chance after chance, including a missed penalty, and a cup final goal would be a great way to sign off for the club if it is to be his last appearance at the national stadium – a blockbuster display from El Bufalo would be a welcome sight.
Morelos should be joined by Ryan Kent and Fashion Sakala in attack, two runners off a central pivot, hopefully, the Colombian brings his shooting boots and the wingers can find the space that Celtic’s system leaves.
In midfield, where there is the only other real decision to be made, much will depend on whether or not Malik Tillman and John Lundstram are fit, if they aren’t, Glen Kamara and Todd Cantwell will retain their place – both fine footballers but it would change the dynamic of the team. The presence of Tillman and Lundstram also gives another dynamic at set-pieces where we have looked a lot more threatening under Beale.
With very little lee-way when it comes to the team selection, much of the weight of success will hang on the shoulders of Michael Beale, set the team up right, and he becomes an instant hero, get it wrong, and this squad will continue to have the tag of perennial losers handing from theirs.