Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side return to European action on Thursday evening, with Bodo/Glimt making the trip from Norway for the first leg of the Europa Conference League play-off meeting between the two sides.
However, while the Bhoys head into the fixture on the back of a 4-0 Scottish Cup win over Raith Rovers, as well as the 56-year-old’s outfit currently being on a run of 17 games unbeaten in all competitions, the Hoops boss was far from pleased with his side’s performance last time out.
Indeed, the Greek-Australian coach stated after the victory: “[The] first half was pretty poor. Obviously, when I’m making so many changes it’s going to affect the rhythm of the team and the cohesion but even within that I thought we weren’t great first half.
“We didn’t really work hard enough, didn’t move the ball quick enough, second half obviously was a lot better and it was good to get through to the next round.
“It’s not about taking opportunities [for the players who came in], it’s not like they’re going to be banished into some unknown place after today.
“It’s just that we’ve got certain standards about how hard we want to work and the kind of football we want to play, how quickly we want to move the ball.”
As such, with Postecoglou undoubtedly hoping that his side can kick-start a European cup run with a victory over Bodo/Glimt tomorrow night, it would appear highly likely that the 56-year-old will make sweeping changes to the side that lined up against Rovers on Sunday – with one player who looks to be a prime candidate for the chop being Tom Rogic.
Postecoglou must axe Rogic
Despite having impressed over his 20 Premiership appearances so far this season – scoring five goals, registering six assists, creating nine big chances for his teammates and averaging a Sofascore match rating of 7.12 – the 29-year-old was one of the players who was far from his best against the Championship outfit last weekend.
Indeed, while the £1.35m-rated attacking midfielder did provide Liam Scales with an assist for Celtic’s opener, he also ceded possession far too cheaply on a number of occasions over his 69 minutes on the pitch – with the Scottish Daily Express awarding the Australia international a disappointing six in their player ratings.
However, aside from the lacklustre display of the £15k-per-week player, who Brendan Rogers claimed “could play in a tuxedo,” the fact that Postecoglou now has the option of Matt O’Riley in the middle of the park is another big reason why Rogic should be dropped on Thursday.
Indeed, since his £1.5m move to Parkhead in January, the 21-year-old has been in breathtaking form over his five Premiership appearances for the Hoops, having already scored one goal, registered three assists and created three big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.6 shots and making a remarkable four key passes per fixture.
These returns have seen the £405k-rated former England U18 international average a quite astonishing SofaScore match rating of 7.76, ranking him as the third-best player in the entirety of the Scottish top flight.
As such, while the likes of James Forrest, Mikey Johnston and Stephen Welsh also look likely to drop out of Postecoglou’s starting XI on Thursday night, the 56-year-old simply must replace Rogic with O’Riley against Bodo/Glimt – as the latter looks as if he could genuinely be one of the most exciting talents Scottish football has seen for a long while.
In other news: Celtic receive yet another exciting injury boost, Postecoglou will be buzzing
