Imagine we were forced to work within our current parameters.
Imagine we were forced to do with what we had for a while.
Could we? Could we maintain a title challenge with the players we’ll have left after our main departures are confirmed, and if we had nothing left to fall back on? Is it possible that Celtic still has enough in the tank – and in the squad?
The question, on the surface, is an easy one to answer; with a resounding “no.”
But is that really the truth of it? Are things as bad as they seem, on the surface?
Now, before I start I am not here to make a case for spending no money and doing nothing with this squad.
Far from it. I think heavy surgery is needed and I hope to God there is a plan for it.
But the hour draws late.
We have pissed about to a ridiculous degree and we’re not done with the pissing about yet. We still seem miles away from having someone in the dugout and the idea that Kennedy and Strachan will take pre-season training appals me.
But there is a kind of assumption that if the season started right now that we would be done for.
Is that the truth though? Or is there a glimmer of hope?
Let’s take a look at the four critical areas of the team and see where we are.
The Goalkeeping Options Look Good … On Paper.
We have three goalkeepers, so there’s an argument for saying that we could do without signing a new one.
Bain marshalled us through much of last season.
Barkas is an expensive footballer who is lacking in confidence and just needs games.
Hazard is a young up and comer.
On the surface of it, we have enough there not to be concerned.
But of course, look beyond the mere numbers and in fact there’s a lot to be concerned about.
We can’t put this season in the hands of any one of these guys with full confidence, and we certainly can’t swap them week in week out as Lennon was at one point determined to do.
It would be ridiculous and help neither the players nor the club itself.
Hazard is a kid, it’s too risky.
None of the others has realistically done enough to make them into a commanding first pick number one, although Barkas might be when he’s had a pre-season under his belt.
Except that it will be with Kennedy at the helm of training, which doesn’t suggest at all as if he will be trusted or given much of a chance.
A lot of this is going to come down to the pre-season friendlies.
Postecoglou won’t have seen this team much before they kick off, so who’s judgements is he going to trust? Those of the guys who were here for the last campaign; Barkas won’t get a look in.
That’s a problem, one of many problems we’re going to have here.
Defensive Options Are In Short Supply …
How we make out in defence will rely on two key things; Jullien’s injury and whether Jack Hendry returns to the club or not.
If those two are both available for pre-season training then we could put out a makeshift defence for some games with Taylor on the left, Hendry/Welsh and Jullien in the middle or Hendry/Ralston on the right.
We are badly short at the back. Badly. Seriously. Dangerously.
There’s no point in pretending otherwise.
The right side is especially grim; Hendry has played there but it’s not ideal, and Ralston is never going to be a fan favourite.
Taylor, likewise, on the left. We did play Adam Montgomery there for a game, but he’s more of a winger who we’ve hopelessly tried to convert, for reasons passing understanding.
On top of that, we have Nir Bitton still at the club who could be drafted into central defence in an emergency.
It would have to be a serious one as nobody thinks he’s good enough to play there on a long timeline.
And there’s one other option and it might be unpalatable for everyone at the club; Bolingoli is technically still on the books, although currently on loan.
It’s not a great idea but it’s a … possible.
There Are Midfield Possibilities …
Midfield has options. A few of them. But does it have enough of them?
You could, at a push, get quite a good midfield out of the present team.
You have options in the middle; Bitton, McGregor, Soro, Rogic, Turnbull. There’s the boy from Sheffield Wednesday. You could bring home Luca Connell and give that lad a chance.
So we’re not critically short there, except perhaps out wide, where the options seem thin on the ground if we’re being generous. Yet even there there’s hope.
On the left you have two academy players, Ewan Henderson and Mikey Johnston.
You could also play Montgomery there, in his natural position, although that would a radical rethink in our approach to developing that guy.
Too many times at Parkhead we try to put square pegs in round holes, with the current results, that we’re all over the place.
On the right you have Forrest, of course, but you also have Karamoko Dembele, who is due his opportunity and might make a good option for the coming campaign.
So whilst it looks difficult to see us playing with only Forrest on the wing, that’s not entirely the case as there are other footballers who can cope out wide.
The thing is, are you going through some of these guy’s head-first into a do-or-die battle for a title? Would you ever put them under that much pressure? I don’t think so.
Options Up Front … But Who Can We Trust From Them?
We have major problems up front, although we have one option and two possibles.
The one option is Ajeti.
Presumably he’s staying and going to fight to be the first pick.
There’s Leigh Griffiths, who some think will stay and who others think will go. He could walk right now. Then there’s Bayo, who’s loan spell in France hasn’t been too bad.
Are these guys the makings of a title winning forward line?
It seems like a foolish question when you consider that Griffiths was carrying that weight all on his own just four years ago and has proved, time and again, that he can still cut it when required.
Bayo is a player some think didn’t really get a chance, and Ajeti has suffered all season long from the lamentably unfair comparisons between him and Toney, the one who got away.
He will need to up his game, that’s for sure, but he certainly shouldn’t be written off.
Here’s the thing; any other club in Scotland save maybe for the Ibrox lot, would bite your hand off for any of these players, and all three of them, they’d fancy their chances of a third place finish and a good cup run.
They can all do it in the SPL … and that’s the question.
On top of them, you have Jonathon Afolabi and Oxo Flex, who may or may not be up to snuff.
But you’ll just never known until you try this out.
So What’s The Answer To The Question?
So back to the central question; if all else failed and we were forced to fall back on our current squad, minus Christie, Ajer, Ntcham and Edouard, could we do it? If Bayo and Hendry came back?
If our other loanees were all home at the club?
Could we actually sustain a title challenge with what we have in the team right now?
And you know what? I’m going to say yes, because on the basis of it we’ve got a better squad there than every other team in the league bar one, and it’s debatable about whether their strongest eleven would beat our strongest eleven on the day if we had a half-decent tactical manager and some good coaching behind him and the players.
But I mean there’s no doubt we have a strong enough squad, even without signings, to beat most SPL teams most weeks, and that’s probably not up for debate.
Just because we could, doesn’t mean that we should, of course, that we will.
Postecoglou will want players even though he signed a total of four of them in the whole of his career – a factor you would be correct to think forms the basis of his hiring – and there will be no shortage of options that will be presented to him by our untitled director of football.
The fact is, to do it right we need to be significantly stronger than we are right now, right across the boards.
We need at least two centre backs, two right backs, a left back, two left sided midfielders, one on the right, one in the middle and one, maybe two, strikers … and a goalie. I don’t think we’ll get all that, not even close to it, but it’s what’s required.
Without it, we’re really going to struggle, whether a challenge based on what we’ve got is a theoretical possibility or not.