One of the things that has been floating around in the mainstream media lately has been the scaremongering tactics about Celtic’s squad potentially being depleted for the Asian Cup next year. The dates have been set now and it looks like it will be from 12 January and 10 February, after being postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions in China.
Instead, the tournament will now be held in Qatar – the place of the 2022 World Cup back in the winter time. What is expected of course, is the Project Fear mob being out in force and the pedantic scribblings of those who are desperate to attach any sort of negative news and light onto Celtic Park.
However, I don’t think that will be the case and Ange Postecoglou will be aware of the potential for us to lose several key first-team members in the New Year of 2024. At present, our squad is resplendent with talent and everyone is fighting tooth and nail to get on that field every single week – never mind start the game.
This is nothing new to us though, as last year we had to go without our star striker, Kyogo Furuhashi for a good while and Giorgos Giakoumakis had been injured too. If you recall, Liel Abada had to step up to the plate at times and he duly did, scoring crucial goals at times throughout the absence of Kyogo. Joey Dawson even found himself up front one game at McDairmid Park as well on Boxing Day 2021!
The point is: we’ve got options available to us and the boss might also dip into the market for another striker come the opening of the summer transfer window. But this article was to highlight the possibility of Ange using Sead Hakšabanović as the central striker if needed. When Sead came on last Sunday afternoon at Hampden Park against theRangers, he looked awesome in that position.
His power, pace, and ability to drag people out of position – not to mention his wonderful dribbling skills – are perfect in that striker role with two wingers either side of him. He’s also no shrinking violet either; the big man ain’t afraid to throw his weight about and he has just the robust physique to bully opposition defenders. If we do lose the majority of our attacking gems, I wouldn’t be reaching for the panic button.
Big Sead could prove to be worth his weight in gold. This could be his opportunity to really shine for Celtic…
Paul Gillespie
READ THIS…
“But this article was to highlight the possibility of Ange using Sead Hakšabanović as the central striker if needed. When Sead came on last Sunday afternoon at Hampden Park against theRangers, he looked awesome in that position.” Hakšabanović never played as a striker last Sunday, he replaced Maeda and played on the left wing. When Ange switched to a 4-2-3-1, McGregor and Iwata played as the two holders with O’Reily in the no.10 position behind Oh, and the two wingers were Hakšabanović on the left and Abada on the right.