Roll on 5pm tonight.
It’s almost upon us. We’re back. Thank God. This summer had a World Cup but it also had all this Gerrard cobblers, and it’s still going on. This is where the nonsense stops because this is where it gets real. The football is about to begin.
We should win this tonight. Comfortably. Some say they would settle for a draw; I want us to win this convincingly and I believe we will. This might not be a new team – more on that, I’m sure, later in the week – but the manager has them refreshed and ready.
It will be murderously hard to get through these games. Eight of them in as many weeks, games of increasing difficulty. But we can make it.
The team system is 3-5-2. We’re going with the two strikers. We’ve got Forrest on the right and Tierney on the left. We’re playing three in the middle with McGregor, Ntcham and a fit Scott Brown. The Hendry-Ajer-Simunovic backline is what we expected.
This might not be a new team, but it’s a new team, and as I pointed out earlier in the week the playing squad is one where the formation can be changed mid-game if that’s what the manager wants to do. Our 3-5-2 can flip to a 4-4-2 when, and if, necessary and even, at a push, to the familiar 4-2-3-1. I am delighted about that.
I am delighted that the phony war is almost over. For Celtic fans this is the moment we’ve been waiting on. The next phase of the Brendan Revolution is about to begin. It starts tonight, with this match. I am counting the seconds until it kicks off.