Be careful what you wish for.
Celtic’s desire to get the winter break brought forwards, but only after they had beaten a Covid-19 riddled St Mirren side, hasn’t quite gone to plan.
A 0-0 draw with Jim Goodwin’s team featured several Under-18s and a bench that had no players with first-team experience, unlike a Celtic squad that still had internationals all the way through it and some sitting on the sidelines.
That several of their key attacking players have identical injuries would be a concern to most managers but Ange Postecoglu just sees it as a side effect of his training methods and playing philosophy, David Turnbull the latest to join the queue for the treatment table.
Speaking to Football Insider, Alan Hutton reckons that they will be worried about facing Rangers with so many players out:
“They‘ll be worried about that Old Firm game.
“Especially if Turnbull and Jota are both out.
“Even Rangers are trying to protect Joe Aribo from getting that yellow card suspension. That just shows you what a massive game it is in terms of the league title race.
“Turnbull has been one of their top performers this season. He’ll be a massive miss. They’ll have to be careful. It’s a hamstring injury that could keep him out for a long time.”
Hamstring injuries have a habit of returning, especially in cold weather, the Kyogo Furuhashi was able to play at the weekend but was then missing for their draw with St Mirren shows that he also is struggling.
The Old Firm has been moved to the 2nd of February and we could be without our own players off on international duty, however, Celtic could be even shorter when you consider that Kyogo and Tom Rogic will be away with Japan and Australia respectively, Cameron Carter-Vickers could also be with the USA.
Their rush to get the game moved from 2nd of January looks to have backfired spectacularly because we should have Filip Helander, Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe back and it would be a surprise if Calvin Bassey is called up by Nigeria for a major tournament when he hasn;t even been capped yet.
Our biggest loss will be Joe Aribo but between Ianis Hagi, Scott Wright, Juninho Bacuna and Roofe, we have more than enough quality to step up to the plate.
Karma, it’s a funny thing.