So, the starting 11 for today’s game in Perth has just been named, and it’s a strong team. In fact, it’s the best lineup we could have expected given that Cameron Carter-Vickers is still out. Kasper is in goal, with a backline of Johnston, Trusty, Scales, and Taylor.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, we’re fielding what I believe is our strongest midfield trio: Bernardo, McGregor, and Engels.
Out wide, we have Nicholas Kühn and Maeda, while Kyogo leads the line up front.
The bench looks particularly strong as well, with Luke McCowan back in the squad. Our new goalkeeper, who was surprisingly absent against Falkirk last week, is back too. The bench includes exactly who you’d expect, with Hatate, Idah, Nawrocki, and Valle all listed.
However, there’s one notable absentee—though it wasn’t hard to guess who it would be. That’s right, Luis Palma hasn’t made the squad. Instead, the manager has gone with Yang, which won’t surprise anyone who watched last weekend’s game and saw Palma’s lacklustre performance.
The manager has made it clear that Palma blew that chance, and it could be a while before he gets another one. Yang fully deserves his place on the bench, and if he gets an opportunity today and makes the most of it, Palma’s uphill battle might become an impossible climb.
The manager has also included Alistair Johnston, despite concerns about his recent injury, which suggests Johnston is fully fit and ready to go. That’s great news because we need him at 100%, especially if we’re going to be without Carter-Vickers for the match in Germany. The boss hasn’t confirmed Vickers’ absence yet, and I’m still hopeful we’ll get some good news on that front when the manager sits down for the pre-match press conference on Monday.
All in all, it’s a strong team today, and the manager clearly wants the three points to send us off to Germany on a high. The kickoff time is less than ideal, as we’ve discussed before. Tomorrow, I’ll dive deeper into the issues around TV deals and contracts and how they’ve disrupted the fixture list for us.
But for now, I’m going to sit back, relax, and enjoy this game. Hopefully, we’ll finish with more points, more goals, another clean sheet, and further proof that this team has evolved beyond the one that, at times, looked shaky at the start of last season.
Having watched Celtic for many decades and like so many, witnessed copious amounts of highs and lows…recent times, as we know,have delivered an abundance of highs!!!
As I sit at half time, and I know it’s only half time, this is an absolutely fantastic time to be a Celtic fan.
The energy, hunger, determination and skill on display is a joy to watch.
We’ve even overcame the disappointment of a VAR decision that I found to be completely bizarre, and scored three tremendous goals !
If possible, get the replacements on and avoid any unnecessary knocks or injuries!
If you can’t get excited being a Celtic fan at this present time, then you are in the wrong game !
Keep it going Hoops, finish this game off and take this exhilaration into Tuesday.
HH
Is it Halloween already,,lots of st johnstone fans dressed as seats,,,,I,m glad they can afford tae cut allocations,,,,, brilliant performance,a joy to watch,,,
Tried to enjoy the game from afar, but why did the doll from “rangers tv” and alan Hutton get the gig for premier sports? Neither played for St johnstone, neither are impartial and neither have anything intelligent to say. I know there’s not much money in broadcasting scottish football but I’m pretty sure you could pick a saint off the street that would be more coherent than that