Paulo Bernardo is knocking on the door giving Brendan Rodgers a midfield dilemma for Saturday evening’s Scottish Premiership fixture at McDiarmid Park…
Since the Portuguese midfielder returned to Celtic on a £3.5m permanent transfer from Benfica in the summer, his eye-catching performances have not gone unnoticed.
A sublime display against theRangers, dominating the central area of the pitch seemed to look incredibly natural for the 22 year-old. Harshly dropped for Celtic’s 2-0 victory over Hearts two weeks ago, Bernardo looked impressive again on Sunday against Falkirk. The cushioned volley emphasised the technical qualities he brings to the team.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor is undroppable, so too is Hoops record signing Arne Engels. Therefore, Bernardo is competing for a midfield spot with Reo Hatate.
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Hatate was outstanding in Celtic’s Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava providing a quality assist for his fellow countryman Daizen Maeda. However, inconsistency seems to be Hatate’s issue. The 26 year-old is an enigma for Brendan Rodgers. You are not quite sure the kind of performance he will put in.
Mentally, it is understandable that players can switch off in League Cup games against lower league opposition. Nonetheless, Hatate has shown glimpses of overplaying at times, and that will be an major issue for Celtic next Tuesday at Signal Iduna Park should the ball be turned over.
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On the other hand, creatively, Hatate is a key playmaker for the side. His expertly chipped pass to Valle for Bernardo’s well executed volley against Falkirk led to Celtic’s equalising goal. This came after the midfield man being culpable for John McGlynn’s sides opener having been too slow to react to the second ball.
Barring any injury worries, Brendan Rodgers will play his strongest team on Saturday. The team against St Johnstone will reflect what he will go with in Dortmund on Tuesday.
An inclusion of Bernardo for Hatate may give the side more discipline something I think Rodgers will be emphasising to his players on Tuesday night.
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A midfield trio of McGregor, Engels and Bernardo is exciting. There is an attacking fluidity to it and also gives the team good balance.
We shall see what the manager does, but a midfield personnel tweak would not be surprising. Paulo Bernardo deserves the opportunity to go and become a regular starter.
Conor Spence
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Whatever Rodgers team selection for starting on Saturday evening, will possibly have an impact upon Rodgers plans for dortmund imo?
Currently we are looking at 3 from 4 for starting roles in dortmund, which will possibly be a straight choice between Paulo and Hatate, without hopefully any injury concerns in place?
Huge step up for McCowan to be considered for starting in dortmund, but still think he may have a huge role to play on Saturday night imo?
Both Paulo and Hatate haven’t been considered as full 90 minute players by Rodgers yet this season, and thinking that will be the case in dortmund also?
So Rodgers will possibly have Calmac and Engels as his full 90 minute players in mind for dortmund, so raises the question as to just how much energy levels could be reduced within both, with Saturday evening and such a short space of recovery time and travelling involved, before kick off in dortmund?
The fluency that was missing from the games of both Calmac and Hatate were a concern against Falkirk, which would be a concern of mine for Saturday, but moreso with dortmund in mind?
Personally would prefer McCowan to start on Saturday, possibly with Paulo and Calmac?
And all going well, to allow Engels to replace Calmac?
And as Rodgers tends to only have 5 midfield options within his 20man SPFL match day squad, could even consider Holm and allow Hatate the weekend off?
A risk I know, but still believe our midfield areas were still a player short for our CL campaign, which in turn isn’t making the rotation process any easier for ourselves, especially with such short turnaround in matches, with the successful high intensity that we are currently playing at imo?
Big decisions for Rodgers to be making this weekend, especially with Dortmund in mind?