Celtic return to cinch Premiership action tomorrow afternoon when they welcome the visit of Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock side to Celtic Park.
After a successful trip to Paisley last weekend in the Scottish Cup fifth round, all eyes are now on the league, with the gap at the top of the table as tight as it could possible be.
The cliche term is that this is the ‘business end’ of the season, but there is little to no margin for at Parkhead tomorrow with the title race the closest it has been so far this season.
Brendan Rodgers has heavily rotated his Celtic side this season, with injuries and inconsistencies all playing on his mind when choosing his team to send out.
With Killie holding two victories over Celtic this season alone, the Ayrshire side will be no pushovers, and here are 3 key decisions that Brendan Rodgers has to get right for tomorrow’s encounter.
Push On With the New Shape
Celtic had grown to be far too predictable this season, with many sides sussing out Rodgers’ style of play with relative ease. Attacking play was far too slow and careless and the midfield were struggling to grab a hold of games, resulting in well-organised SPFL team’s being able to take plenty of points off of the Hoops this season.
Rodgers decided to revert away from his cautious approach in Paisley last weekend, changing to a 4-4-2 shape with Kyogo Furuhashi playing as almost an attacking midfielder behind Adam Idah.
This tactical tweak so Kyogo looking more like a bright and energetic self, with Kyogo arguably seeing more of the ball in his time on the pitch against St Mirren than he has seen in any other game so far this season.
Getting his star player performing against whilst injecting some life back into this Celtic team, sticking with this new approach should be a must for Brendan Rodgers this weekend.
Taylor Back In The Team
After suffering an injury in Celtic’s 5-0 Scottish Cup fourth round victory over Highland League Buckie Thistle, Greg Taylor has been out of action for a number of weeks.
Out-of-favour Alexandro Bernabei deputised in place of the former Killie man and whilst turning in some decent performances at Easter Road and St Mirren park, the Argentine is still an incredibly chaotic and unpredictable player.
Whilst that erraticness can be coached out of his game, Rodgers would much rather stick with a safe option at this stage of the season, and thus the return of Greg Taylor to the starting eleven should be expected this weekend.
He was touch and go for the trip to Paisley last weekend, but Rodgers confirmed that Taylor will be fit for tomorrow’s game.
Kuhn or Palma?
Daizen Maeda’s goal against St Mirren at the weekend virtually confirms his place in the team tomorrow, but who partners the Japanese on the opposite flank is a different story.
Nicolas Kuhn is available for this game, he he has flattered to deceive so far in his limited minutes for the club.
Luis Palma brings a bit of known quality to the team, and his knack for grabbing a goal or an assist will be vitally important against a rigid and organised Kilmarnock side.
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