Celtic’s Injury Issues Are A Growing Frustration, But They Should Not Be A Major Concern.

The news that Liel Abada has gotten injured on international duty is the last thing any of us wanted to hear. We are just coming out of a serious injury crisis, affecting our defence, and now we have this.

Stories today suggest that he is going to be out for at least a month. Bad enough under normal circumstances, worse that it comes on the heels of him signing a new deal and being more ready to fight for the cause than ever before.

I know a lot of people will question Celtic in this; this happened whilst he was away, so I don’t know how we can possibly be responsible for it. The thing is though, whenever you change managers, you expect something like this. Training regimens undergo major transformations and that will lead to a certain number of players being out for a spell.

This we know from bitter experience. But it doesn’t mean that its our fault.

This is not the blow it would have been a couple of weeks ago. We’ve gone to Ibrox now with a makeshift defence and won, and that should have our heads up for the challenges in front of us. We never seem to catch a break though; we have some players on their way back from injuries and now this happens. But with every crisis is an opportunity.

This is an opportunity for Yang to stake his claim and, when he’s fit, for Tillio to show us what he can do and I think we’re all looking forward to that. Let’s not forget that we also have a fit James Forrest able to play wide right. There are plenty of options. This does not have to be treated as a major drama. It’s a bad loss, but it’s not the end of the world.

This is what we have a big squad for, and as I said in a piece after the transfer window closed, we are now blessed with seven wingers at the club, which is a big number considering we can only play two of them at any one time, and most of them are capable of switching to play on the other side of the pitch. The team is well stocked in that department.

So whilst it’s a loss, it’s not a disaster. It’s a shame though as when a guy signs a new deal and is essentially in a good place at the club you want to see what he can do.

Maybe we’re cursed. After Welsh signed his new contract he too was put out for a spell.

Hatate is on the way back. Maybe if he signs a new deal after being injured we can dodge this particular bullet. Fingers crossed and here’s hoping.

In the meantime, this is another reminder of why many of us hate international breaks.

This happens to us too often when our player go out to play for their countries. When they are used to training a certain way, at a certain intensity, and then go off to the international camp this is when it tends to happen, and yes you might think we’re over-training them … but you could just as well say that maybe some international bosses don’t push them hard enough.

Abada himself said this was done to him over-doing it.

Perhaps he didn’t think he was being taken to his limits by the national coach … that’s something we’ll have to watch out for in future.