Ange Postecoglou says it’s not his job to keep benched stars happy. To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone at Celtic right now becoming unhappy.
Why would you be? What’s not to love about being there right now? And this is a topic of discussion which, quite frankly, will be completely obsolete once the campaign really gets going for Celtic. Against Ross County today, just as it was against Aberdeen last weekend and will be against Kilmarnock a week tomorrow when the team plays again, there will be some classy individuals starting the afternoon among the subs.
Premiership Golden Boot joint-winner Giorgis Giakoumakis was there last week. So was PFA Young Player of the Year Liel Abada. Internationals such as James Forrest. They might face the same scenario again in Dingwall. But it’s not going to be like that all season. Everyone knows that and I’m sure the players do as well.
I genuinely don’t know if Postecoglou has a first choice starting 11 in his head. He might have, but I’d suggest he’d be a horses for courses type. Would switch personnel to suit certain situations. It really doesn’t matter because it’s not going to be an issue when the season really kicks in for the squad and it gets stretched by playing every midweek as well as Saturday or Sunday.
Right now, for the first time in more than a decade, it’s not an issue for them at this stage because there are no European qualifiers. That magnifies the situation. It’s weekend to weekend for a month at the start due to the direct entry to the group stage of the Champions League, but that’s a good thing, not a bad one.
Think of the problems which Celtic have had in them in the past, even getting teams together never mind getting through. Look at the stress Rangers are facing on Tuesday after their result in Belgium the other night. It’s not what you want to start a term. The flip side is that some of Postecoglou’s boys are not going to get as much action as they would like until we get into September.
But it’ll come. No doubt. Take, for example, the discussions about Kyogo or Giakoumakis. Have people forgotten that both of them missed a total of about seven months combined last season due to injury issues?
You take that to nine months if you add in Jota’s eight-week absence and Forrest also missed a chunk of matches with injury. Now that might have been a one-off, but it might not. It might happen again. And you can’t have a deep enough squad just in case.
With the greatest of respect to the young lads themselves, Celtic had to call on kids Joey Dawson and Adam Moffat up front to get through games in the festive period last year when both the Japanese and the Greek were stuck on the sidelines.
It was seat of the pants stuff at times and, although it’s sad to say, there is simply no way Postecoglou is going to get through competing in four competitions, having high-pressure games week on week and with the tempo his team train and play at without some guys picking up strains.
He admits himself that, last year, he had to push some guys further than he wanted due to lack of numbers and it broke them. David Turnbull was one of those. Now he’s back and refreshed and people were wondering if was going to get games with Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley and Callum McGregor holding the jerseys for the opening day win over Aberdeen.
One week in and we have our answer. Postecoglou has said he will switch things around and every single member of that squad will see action, I’m convinced of it. Of course, at this precise point in time, when basically everyone is fit and there aren’t many games, there also aren’t enough starting places to go around.
It causes one or two questions. Take, for instance, the fact Jota played off the right last week to accommodate Daizen Maeda on the other side. It’s my own belief the Portuguese is better and looks more comfortable coming from the left. It’s not that Jota can’t operate on the right, of course he can. He’s shown it.
It’s just my opinion he seems to look even more at home on the opposite side and his goal coming infield against Aberdeen when switched across there after Maeda went off and Abada came on to go to the right shows what he can do. But Maeda brings his own merits. He does the tracking back that I’m not sure Jota enjoys as much, so you need to give and take to balance the team.
When you have such a large choice of talented players, you have those options. That’s just the way it is and, to be honest, that’s the way you want it as a player. I’ve been there. I was playing alongside Henrik Larsson during our first season under Martin O’Neill and he went out and signed John Hartson.
I was happy with that. It made me have to be even better to stay in the side. And if you missed a game injured or you lost form, you knew there was a top-class operator to fill your spot and the team wouldn’t lose out, meaning your chances of holding trophies in May stayed strong.
Some guys might want to win to play for smaller clubs, be the starter every week and be the hero, but win nothing. I’d rather be part of an outstanding unit which had the capability of withstanding absences and still win prizes. Ask Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer if he’d have preferred being star man at Everton and win nowt, or be mainly a sub with a Champions League winners medal in his pocket and the winning goal in the Final to cherish in his memory forever.
I’m sure he’d say the latter and I’m also sure that’s the case with all the boys right now at Celtic. Postecoglou says it’s not his job to keep people happy. But I’d suggest he’s saying that in the knowledge he’s aware they are all happy anyway.
