Ange Postecoglou has made changes to the Celtic team that secured a spot in the League Cup Final for tonight's clash with St Mirren.
The Hoops moved to within 90 minutes of retaining the Viaplay Cup after victory over Kilmarnock at Hampden secured a return to the national stadium next month for an Old Firm showdown with Rangers. But that has been put to one side with a big few days on the horizon starting with the Buddies at Parkhead before a Scottish Cup clash with Championship outfit Greenock Morton.
Stephen Robinson's side are the only team to defeat the Scottish champions this season in the Premiership with the league leaders boasting a record of 19 wins, one draw and just that one defeat in Paisley so far this term. It gives tonight's encounter an added edge as Postecoglou and his troops look to seek revenge for that loss on their record.
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Ahead of tonight's clash with St Mirren, the Celtic boss said: “I’d be really, really disappointed if they were more motivated tomorrow than they were in the last game or the one after that, that’s not my expectations of any team. Your motivation should be every time you play to try to be your best - to beat whatever opponent is in front of you."
“If you need revenge as a motivator, then go and lose every second game and it will be great. "That’s not how it works, particularly here. We’re very motivated because we are representing this football club, we’re in a strong position in the league and we want to continue our consistency, our performance and our results.
“That’s our motivation, that’s our motivation every week so it doesn’t need anything extra to get these guys up and running."
He continued: "It’s fair to say the game itself and obviously the conditions took a fair bit out of the boys, so I haven’t made the final decisions yet, but there will be some changes tomorrow, both because it took a fair bit out of the lads at the weekend and also we need to freshen up the team I feel, so I’ll make a few changes.
“I guess the pleasing thing for me is that the guys who have been out recently – Haksabanovic, Ralston, Welsh, McCarthy – are all training and are all available, so obviously from my perspective, we’ve got some options there now.
“Alistair Johnston, he’s good now after missing the weekend game , so it’s fair to say we’ll make some changes tomorrow, not only on the back of the weekend game but also I just feel it’s a good moment to freshen up the team a bit.”
Celtic XI: Hart, Johnston, Kobayashi, Starelt, Juranovic, McGregor, Hatate, O'Riley, Abada, Jota, Kyogo
Subs: Bain, Haksabanovic, Mooy, Turnbull, Iwata, Maeda, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh
St Mirren XI: Carson, Gallagher, Shaughnessy, Dunne, Strain, Baccus, Erhahon, Gogic, Tanser, Ayunga, Main
Subs: Urminsky, R.Taylor, Kenny, Flynn, F.Taylor, Kiltie, Olusanya, Greive, Brophy
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