Celtic have announced that Beram Kayal will be out for at least a month after the tackle with McCulloch the other night.
That was Kayal’s best game of the season by a distance on Wednesday night but we have plenty of options in midfield with Brown, Wanyama, Ki and Ledley all capable of playing in the middle.
I don’t think we have any further injury concerns arising from the derby victory.
Lustig was unveiled today but won’t be involved on Monday.
I think the most likely outcome might be Stokes in with Brown going central, Samaras reverting to left wing and Forrest moving over to the right wing. Wouldn’t change any of the back four - but would be good to get Izzy some game time so we have Ledley back available for his best position.
Don’t think we should underestimate the loss of Kayal though. Wanyama is doing very well at centre back but with Kayal out of the team we could really do with an enforcer in the middle of the park and our two best alternatives are both playing (very well) at the back at the moment.
I’d expect Neil to retain the Rogne and Mulgrew partnership at the back. So it’s one other to partner Wanyama and I think he’ll stick Ki in there on Monday and keep Ledley at left back for the moment. I think the Scottish Cup game on the 8th is the ideal game for Izzy to make his comeback and then we can push Ledley back into midfield.
Yeah I expect we’ll keep that - I was more talking about the loss Kayal will be over the month he’s out. Could end up being significant. For all his early season poor form we’ve only once without him starting.
We only have 3 league games in January with the 4th round of the Scottish Cup and the semi-final of the League Cup so he’ll hopefully be back in time for Hearts away in early February.
I would go for this team on Monday:
CELTIC
[soccer]
[gk]Forster[/gk]
[rb]Matthews[/rb]
[rcb]Rogne[/rcb]
[lcb]Mulgrew[/lcb]
[lb]Ledley[/lb]
[rm]Brown[/rm]
[rcm]Ki[/rcm]
[lcm]Wanyama[/lcm]
[lm]Forrest[/lm]
[rcf]Stokes[/rcf]
[lcf]Samaras[/lcf]
[/soccer]
SUBS: Zaluska, Hooper, Izaguirre, McCourt, K Wilson, McGeouch, Bangura.
I think I’d give Hooper a rest and get Stokes back in from the start.
We’ll need Wanyama to patrol and control the midfield:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3axtfY4eD0A
Whoa oohh
Victor Wanyama
Victor Wannnnnnnyama
Victor Wanyama
Wanyama
Wanyama
Whoa oohh
CELTIC
[soccer]
[gk]Forster[/gk]
[rb]Matthews[/rb]
[rcb]Rogne[/rcb]
[lcb]Mulgrew[/lcb]
[lb]Ledley[/lb]
[rm]Forrest[/rm]
[rcm]Brown[/rcm]
[lcm]Wanyama[/lcm]
[lm]Samaras[/lm]
[rcf]Stokes[/rcf]
[lcf]Hooper[/lcf]
[/soccer]
Subs: Zaluska, K Wilson, Ki, Izaguirre, Cha, McCourt & Bangura.
That’s the team I predicted and it should be plenty good enough to win today.
It should indeed but I don’t like Brown in a midfield two…
Need to avoid complacency against these too. We had a draw and a loss last season in the league games immediately following victories against the huns.
I’m hoping for a comfortable win and some game time for Izzy, Bangura and Patrick.
I tend to agree on the Brown point but I think Wanyama beside him brings a bit more stability and discipline.
Bright opening so far. Impressed with our willingness to try and get the midfield involved and Stokes and Hooper are looking sharp running the channels.
Hooper dragged to the ground at the edge of the box - play on.
Rogne dragged to the ground 6 yards out - play on.
They’ve everyone behind the ball. Need to have a quick tempo to our passing to drag them out of position. Mulgrew will also have an important role to play bringing the ball out of defence and making the extra man in midfield.
Magnificent strike by Stokes. Magnificent.
Call him up now Trap. What a finish from Stokesy.
Even better on the replays. Cracking finish. Can afford to keep the ball now and see if they’ll be lured out of position instead of relying on increasing the tempo.
The more direct diagonal pass to Samaras or to one of the strikers drifting left is giving us plenty of joy too.
Forrest has an annoying habit of stopping and appealing for freekicks. He should realise he plays for Celtic and won’t get any decisions.