No Callum McGregor. No Jota. No Carl Starfelt. No problem. No team was going to get through this current period between the September international games and the World Cup without having injury issues. Celtic have had theirs to key men. Skipper McGregor being the biggest of the losses to some important squad members.
But Ange Postecoglou has managed to perform a terrific juggling act. And, if he can keep the balls in the air for just one more 90 minutes against Ross County it’ll have been some feat. When Celtic lost to St Mirren just prior to that break in the club programme to have a first Premiership loss in a year inflicted upon them, I wondered if the amount of changes that Postecoglou had made to his team was the main issue for the loss in Paisley.
Every team is due a bad day. There was no recrimination in losing, but the display was flat and disjointed and it was reasonable to feel the volume of alterations had been a cause. Postecoglou knew that this current gruelling programme was next on his list and he would have had plans already in place to mix and match during it to keep everyone fresh.
But, as he sat on the flights back to Australia to promote the Sydney Sports Cup in the days after Paisley, it must have given him some second thoughts. We know, though, that Postecoglou has courage in his convictions. We’ve seen that often enough with his style of play and approach. He clearly felt it was necessary and the sheer volume of switches and changes in the past 12 games has been eye opening.
In fairness, even he admitted himself this week that it has been far more than he would have liked and that it has cost the team in terms of some cohesion. But it has not cost them in terms of results on the home front and you have to give him huge credit for the way he has rotated and kept everyone fresh and firing. During the period, he’s had to cope without McGregor. Losing the skipper at any time is a blow and the squad struggled to handle it when he was missing this time a year ago.
Mercifully for him, Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate have carried the burden and stayed healthy. It has to be said, the Japanese kid looked off it at Fir Park in midweek starting his 12th successive game and that’s understandable, yet O’Riley delivered again. Jota has missed a few of the games and Starfelt’s absence has been key. I don’t mind Moritz Jenz, he’s done fine since signing. However, the Swede is the first pick.
It’s not by chance, of course. Postecoglou was having to pull people out of the ticket office to fill a bench at times at the tail end of last year with resources stretched and he hit the transfer market in January and last summer to ensure he’d be ready for this season. It’s been a gamble. Making five and six changes going to places like Tynecastle for difficult away games is a risk. Losing points creates problems for the following game. Pressure builds.
But Postecoglou has managed to just about pull it off so far. That point has been proven perfectly in the past week with the way games have been decided in the final stages. Last Saturday, it was the freshness and alertness of Kyogo and Liel Abada having come off the bench which won the match against Dundee United with two goals in stoppage time.
Against Motherwell in midweek, Celtic were nowhere near their best. The boss said himself it was a grind and the game was getting dangerous late for them in the second-half. With 10 minutes to go, he was able to unleash the fresh legs of Daizen Maeda. Just over 10 minutes earlier, he’d been able to do the same with David Turnbull for the flagging Hatate.
Lo and behold, Turnbull collects possession, pings a perfect pass into the run of Maeda who is fast and fresh enough to speed away from his marker and fire home the goal that ended up winning the game. Once again, the benefit of having energy from a freshened-up batch of individuals makes the difference late in matches.
Last season, Postecoglou didn’t have that strength in depth or energy. They were tying up at the end of matches before Christmas. People will say it’s easier for him because he has the finance to build such a quality squad. That’s fair enough. Others will point to the fact there was no sense in the so-called smaller clubs opting to keep five subs rule in place this season because it allows teams like Celtic to bring on such firepower. Again, fair enough.
But, no matter these scenarios, it takes skill and clever management to put it all together and make it work. Now, with one game to go, Postecoglou is within touching distance of an entire long-term autumn project coming together. Such is the nature of Glasgow that, if they fail to defeat County and the gap is cut at the top going into the World Cup break, he’ll get criticised. That’s the mad footballing world of the city.
But, if he gets the game won, it’ll complete some juggling act. And he’ll sit on the planes back to Australia this time cosily watching his in-flight movies knowing he got his own script for this part of the campaign spot on.
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