Celtic team news ahead of Kilmarnock as Bhoys left waiting on Cameron Carter-Vickers issue

Celtic are waiting on the availability of defender Cameron Carter-Vickers after he was substituted at half-time during Wednesday night’s 4-1 win over Hibernian.

 

 

Carter-Vickers was replaced by Nat Phillips at the interval. Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed in the aftermath that he had felt a hamstring issue but was taken off as a precaution.

 

Celtic squad news ahead of Kilmarnock

Rodgers told Sky Sports on Friday afternoon when asked about the squad’s status: “They’re in a good place. We’re just checking on one or two. Cameron Carter-Vickers, who came off, we’ll just see how he is. Apart from that, we have no-one new coming into the squad.”

 

In his media conference, the Celtic boss added: “We’ll assess Cameron over the next couple of days. He didn’t pull his hamstring but we just had an MRI scan on that just to make sure he’s okay. We’re just waiting on the results of that. If the scan shows nothing he has a chance of playing.”

Thankfully there are no fresh issues aside from the doubt around the USA international.

Carter-Vickers sitting a game out would be far from ideal but if it helps prevent a more serious injury then he must be rested. Notably, he was not seen in any of the training pictures published today.

Nat Phillips is a contender to come into the starting eleven alongside Liam Scales. Rodgers has also praised the training contributions of Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke.

 

 

Nawrocki isn’t registered for the upcoming UEFA Champions League clash at home to Feyenoord so it might not make much sense to bring him in if Carter-Vickers is also going to be rested for the mid-week fixture.

Fans have been eager to see more of him after his summer move from Legia but injuries have severely hampered his progress.

It seems more likely at this point that Rodgers will stick with defensive consistency until the winter break when things can then be re-assessed.

 

 

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Brendan Rodgers has one eye on the weather forecast ahead of Celtic trip to Kilmarnock

 

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is expecting a stiff challenge from Kilmarnock in this weekend’s Scottish Premiership clash at Rugby Park.

Derek McInnes’ Killie side remain the only Scottish team to have beaten the Bhoys this term, taking a Scottish League Cup scalp earlier in the season at the same venue.

 

 

However, Celtic haven’t lost any of their 16 Premiership games so far this season and head into the weekend knowing they have to keep winning to maintain their points gap over second-placed Rangers.

Asked about the fixture in his pre-match media conference, Rodgers laid out his thoughts on Kilmarnock and smiled when he asked for rain to liven up the Ayrshire side’s dry artificial pitch.

Celtic boss hoping for a slick surface in Kilmarnock

The Celtic boss said: “Derek gets the ball up early into the final third of the pitch. They then look to play when they’re in there, get the ball wide and get crosses in. They’ve got good physicality in the team and they really load up the last line to get bodies into the box.

“We have to defend well. And we pray for a little bit of rain that will make the surface nice and greasy and we can see a half-decent football game.”

Rodgers has made it clear on multiple occasions that he isn’t a big fan of plastic pitches in Scottish football and earlier today backed a potential SPFL rule change on the issue.

 

A bit of winter rain would undoubtedly help with Celtic’s passing game and ensure the ball doesn’t hold up as well when Kilmarnock go direct.

The current forecast shows a 55% chance of rain in the area at the time of the noon kick-off, rising to 65% by full-time. So Rodgers could well get his wish.

The Celtic boss knows better than anyone there’ll be no excuses regardless of the conditions of the day. The Bhoys’ route to three points depends entirely on the performance of the champions.

Play at their potential and external factors shouldn’t be an issue on the way to another win on the road.