Tomorrow night, we finally re-commence hostilities when the club takes the field against Hibs at Celtic Park.
Who amongst the new boys will start? Unknown.
What will the shape of the team be for the game? Unknown.
But once we find out, we’ll learn a lot.
We’ll learn not just about the plan for the remainder of this campaign, but about whatever the manager has in mind for the seasons to come. This Celtic team is still evolving.
We’re going to find out in the next few weeks what direction it is evolving in.
We know, by now, a lot of what this manager intends to do.
We know roughly how he intends this team to play.
We know how many of the players will fit into the system.
But seeing something being implemented often gives a different perspective, and tomorrow night we’ll witness a more complete version of Ange’s overall game plan.
I have to admit to being very excited about that.
We have a lot of our injured players coming back into the team.
Ange has more options to pick from than ever before.
Will we see one or all of the new signings? Who will he play through the middle? What are the options like out wide now, with him confirming that Hatate is a left midfielder?
There are all sorts of questions. We will get the answers.
I think we’re all excited to see the new signings play, but I’m equally excited to see Jota and Giakoumakis return after their lay-offs. I’m excited to see if Jullien will get onto the pitch at some stage. Aside from strengthening, the squad itself is coming out of a dark spell where we had more injuries than I’ve ever seen; our luck was truly rotten.
It feels almost as if we’re going to watch a new team.
In a sense, we are. This will be as close as Ange has come to the squad the way he wants it, and that will tell us a lot about how he intends to utilise this squad. I cannot wait to find out.
DITTO, bring on the Hibees…