Should Giakoumakis Start Up Front For Celtic Tomorrow?

One of the big decisions that will face the manager when he picks his team tomorrow is who to start up front. At one point last season it would have seemed like a stupid question. For many people, it still is.

But this is the biggest call the boss will have to make.

Kyogo had a quiet pre-season, and he had a quiet game at Parkhead last week.

That’s not to say that he’s going to continue being quiet. We know his qualities.

He will finish this season with plenty of goals. But tomorrow will be a difficult physical game, a real scrap, and perhaps Kyogo isn’t the right guy to be playing in a game like that right now.

This is not a piece criticising him. Of course it isn’t. I wouldn’t, because he’s too good. But Giakoumakis gives us a different edge, and has a different style to his game. He looked well up for it when he came on against Aberdeen and got himself into this excellent positions where he was banging away the ball as a matter of routine last season.

Make those chances and he’ll do that this weekend. If he starts.

That’s what Ange has to decide, and I would be surprised if he hasn’t made that call already.

Kyogo and Giakoumakis are going to have to share the responsibilities this season, and we’re very lucky to have two such excellent players fighting for that place. I’ve given up hope of Ange putting them both in the same team; that would mean sacrificing one of his central midfielders instead, and which one of those do you drop?

Both strikers will get 20 plus goals this season.

They are that good.

It’s a matter of who scores first, and my money is on the Greek to start on Saturday and get off the starting blocks.

It will then be up to Kyogo to catch up.

It will be good for them both, and for us.