It’s Nice to be back is it not? No games for four months and now Celtic will be playing three games in five days. It’s time to switch off the box sets and binge on Celtic.
The Celtic that take the field tonight against Nice and follow up with matches against Lyon on Saturday and PSG on Tuesday night will – for the time being at least – be a streamlined version of the personnel available to Neil Lennon when they finished their last 90 minutes with a brilliant 5-0 win over St Mirren.
In the four months of lockdown and social distancing, Celtic have been attempting to reduce the squad numbers while perfecting a budgetary balancing act. The task has been to address the wage bill while trying to minimise the impact on the quality available to Neil Lennon. In the main that has been achieved. It should make that continued social distancing a little easier to integrate into the training routines.
Of the squad that faced St Mirren on 7th March only four players are not available for selection. Of those who started that game hat-trick hero Leigh Griffiths hasn’t travelled, as he focuses on conditioning work at Lennoxtown after coming back to training below the physical standards expected by the Celtic coaching staff. Fraser Forster meanwhile has returned to Southampton following a very successful loan spell.
Both players you’d hope will be back in the Celtic match-day squad by the time the league season kicks off against Hamilton Accies at Celtic Park on August 2nd. For that to happen one has to knuckle down and the other has to have a change of heart.
It is clear that a Celtic team minus a striker who had peaked just as the season ended, and a goalkeeper who was worth several points to Celtic last season, has left the first eleven weaker on paper. Yet considering the number of players who have left by way of the exit door Celtic look largely untroubled.
Those on the bench that day who have now left the club include Craig Gordon who moved to Hearts after rejecting a fresh contract offer and Jonny Hayes, who was not offered an expected contract extension. A utility player that Neil Lennon relied on to plug gaps and a superb back up goalkeeper, but neither really could be classed a first picks on any given day.
Moi Elyounoussi meanwhile took the revolving door approach and left and promptly re-signed upon the expiry of his Southampton loan deal. A wonderful bit of business by Celtic and a player who could and should have a massive impact next season, should his injury woes now be behind him. He will also keep Mikey Johnston on his toes.
The rest of the match day squad from that last competitive game remains intact as Celtic start their preparations for the new season tonight. Of the ten players to have left the club only Moi has returned and there have been no new additions.
Forster, Gordon and Hayes have been followed out the door by Defenders Jozo Simunovic, Jack Hendry, Mauritz Bauer and Calvin Miller, alongside midfielders Eboue Kouassi and Daniel Arzani.
There is further rumours that the club will allow Anthony Ralston – who spent last season on loan at St Johnstone – to also leave. Likely as it is, that has yet to be confirmed. We also wait further developments on Maryan Shved and a loan move or indeed permanent transfer is likely given the players inability to settle in Scotland.
It’s safe to say Lennon leaned on five of those players over the course of the season but only three in Forster, Hayes and Jozo were regular contributors and one a first eleven certainty. When it comes to cut-backs you have to say Celtic have been both ruthless and astute.
Those who have left in the main have been unused or rarely required and with a young team champing at the bit to replace them, many of those positions can be filled from within the ranks. Opportunity will now knock for Stephen Welsh, Ismaila Soro, Lee O’Connor and Karamoko Dembele. Chances will now arise and it’s up to those players to grab them when they do.
The goalkeeping position flashes as a priority area for attention and in central defence we are certainly short of an experienced player. There is however enough time to address both those positions ahead of the start of the league campaign. Welsh can now stake a claim as a first team player and Scott Bain has the floor to himself to show Neil Lennon that he has what I takes to be Celtic’s Number one.
Patryck Klimala now has the perfect opportunity to nudge ahead of Leigh Griffiths as Odsonne Edouard’s strike partner. He has certainly shown a commitment to his Celtic career in both his physical shape and how he has shown a great determination to learn the language. These three games could already be vital for Klimala and a challenging concern for Griffiths.
Neil Lennon himself may well wish to have competition for James Forrest but you can’t imagine that will be anything other than a loan deal or free transfer and you’d have to balance anyone coming in with the knock on effect of stifling the development of young Dembele.
The next three games in France will tell us a lot. We’ll have a better understanding of the formations Celtic will play both at home and in European qualifiers and we should have an indication as to whether Celtic’s exits strategy has impacted on the depth of quality available to Neil Lennon.
That game against St Mirren seems even longer than the four months that have passed. The world has changed markedly and so too has the make-up of the Celtic squad.
Celtic’s three game run on Premier Sports will be the perfect antidote to binging on box sets and watching re-runs of past encounters. Have friendly games ever come with such a sense of anticipation?
It may only be pre-season and support inside the ground may well be limited, but tonight Celtic return. Amen to that.
Niall J
