International week has sllllloooooowwwwwwly passed. I say that as someone who doesn’t actually mind it. It gives me some time to chill and watch whatever I fancy, I’ve watched international games from each continent, youth internationals from every corner of the earth, even today I’m off to watch the Scotland Schoolboy international team vs Republic of Ireland at Ochilview, and I’ve watched Married at First Sight – Aussie edition, I’m sorry it’s a guilty pleasure / torture. I am however delighted that suffering the awful humans on MAFS and the turgid stuff served up by Scotland over the vast majority of the 2 games vs Greece is over, and to be able to say club football is back, Celtic are back and it’s a 3pm kick off on a Saturday. Love it.
A wee bit about Hearts
Our opponents Hearts who currently sit in 6th place have had a really down and then up season, having had a miserable start along with their city rivals Hibs, but like Hibs they eventually found some form, and under Neil Critchley has been decent. Their record over the last 5 matches is in line with our own.
3 wins: Ross County and St.Mirren at home & St.Johnstone away
2 losses: Rangers at home & Hibs away
9 goals for & 7 against
Now the one real difference in Hearts under Critchley is possession. Hearts aren’t a team who many would associate with being a pretty team to watch and often they are considered to be behind the likes of Hibs in terms of basic areas like possession but under Critchley they have jumped to 3rd in the league for average possession at 54%, well behind our 74% but for Hearts that change has been key to an upturn in form. They have also seen an improvement in other data metrics like xG (Expected Goals) from open play, xT (Expected Threat) and one that has really improved, almost to the level of ours. High Recoveries where they average 5.47 per game to our 5.57 per game, so this is a Hearts team that has seen significant and positive changes under Neil Critchley.
New signing Michael Steinwender is one from their new data link up with Starlizard, the software and data product owned by Tony Bloom and he has made a difference at the back with his comfort on the ball. James Penrice has arguably been their best player this season. The 27-year-old left back has proven himself to be a threat down the left with 2 goals, 4 assists and 12 high value chances created. The surprise this season for Hearts has been the obvious drop off in terms of goals from Lawrence Shankland who this season has more assists in the league than goals (6 assists and 4 goals), but another Starlizard move (aligned with Tony Blooms relationship with USG) has seen them add Elton Kabangu on loan and he has scored 6 goals in 8 games. Impressive goalscoring form from the 27-year-old Belgian. He’s a powerful lad that appears to have decent instincts for getting into good positions in the box and that has paid dividends for a Hearts team who were struggling for goals.
What I have found interesting about Hearts recently is when I looked at them, I really expected to find that the left side with Penrice and Spittal would be the source of their width, but actually over the past 5 games they have been a little narrower on the left side and it’s been the right-side Gerald Taylor and Jorge Grant, along with James Wilson drifting over that has been playing wider than their buddies on the left. They like most teams nowadays are looking to make progression down the sides and when they hit the final third, they are looking for Shankland in his new 9/10 role, or to shift the ball from right to left and get Penrice, Spittal and Kabangu involved as they form a little trio on the left side of the attack.
So, for me they are much improved from the last time we played them at home in the league where we won 2-0 and pretty much dominated the game for the first 75 minutes or so, and only really seen them have any real threat late on, which came to nothing. Data wise in most measurements they are now at the level you’d expect to find from the 3rd place team, so it just shows how poor they were at the start of the season and the improvement since Critchley took over.
They do have one clear weakness and that is in behind Spittal and Jorge Grant. Baningame has had a strong season and wins a lot of the ball for them in midfield, but Grant and Spittal both like to push on and that can leave good chances to move the ball in behind quickly with a view to getting Jota and Kuhn head-to-head with Taylor and Penrice.
The Good Bit, The Celtic Bit
The Bhoys are back in town, the Bhoys are back in town……
The question is how many are fit be in the squad and which of those are ready to start and play x amount oof minutes?
Kasper took a sore one vs Portugal and looks to be done for the season.
AJ played 2 big games for Canada and as I’ve previously mentioned is on course for 60 games since the end of last season.
Daizen and Reo both got minutes for Japan, and thankfully from a Celtic perspective neither played over 90 minutes.
There are still question marks over Trusty and Scales who both pulled out of their international squads to remain in Glasgow getting treatment.
We have James Forrest, Paolo Bernardo and Callum McGregor back on the training pitch which is a real positive for what could be a tough test.
So, with all of the above and more in mind, Brendan Rodgers has some decisions to make for Saturday. We all know it’ll be the usual 433 and the gameplan will be much the same, with a real focus on getting our wingers into as many 1vs1s in good areas. The bigger question is how we setup behind that front 3. Schlupp, offers a better physical presence than Taylor, but I’d question whether the defence has looked stronger as a unit with Schlupp in ahead of Taylor. If Trusty and Scales are still out the left sided centre back role then looks to be a straight shootout between Maik Nawrocki and Dane Murray. Nawrocki starting vs Rangers suggests he has the edge for now.
In midfield I expect a trio of Hatate, McGregor and Engels with McCowan and Bernardo as the backup options from the bench.
Up top. Really only one decision that might need to be made and that is whether Daizen starts or not, while he only got 75 minutes for Japan, it’s still a long journey and he spent part of his time away doing recovery work on a knock. Daizen has had games previously that have come immediately after international duty where we have seen signs of fatigue including the last time where he came back to start in a 4-1 away win against Hearts. Given Idah got his boost in midweek with the winner vs Bulgaria, it might be a consideration to go with Jota, Idah and Kuhn to start and see how we go before putting Daizen in.
Last but not least is the most obvious change and that comes down to Viljami Sinisalo or Scott Bain. Now I will be shocked if Sinisalo doesn’t get the nod, because this is why we signed him. If he doesn’t start then I think you risk breaking any trust he has in the process we have and we all then question why did we sign him. His time is now.
It's obviously been around 10 months since he was number 1. Having spent the year before he joined us on loan at Exeter City where he played well enough to get our interest and secure his move from his parent club Aston Villa. His last competitive outing was in the cup game vs Raith Rovers and before that it was for Finland vs Scotland last June. He played in 2 friendlies for us vs Man City and Chelsea in the summer so his outings are few.
I liked what I seen of him at Exeter City and he was fine in the friendly games from memory, but he has spent a lot of time inactive. Ideally what we will see is a good defensive unit from front to back, lots of leadership and effective communication across that backline, including a good strong voice from Sinisalo. Not to protect him from anything, but just to ensure that unlike the last competitive game that we aren’t giving teams any free encouragement and that we start building that confidence in the defensive unit as chances are this is us until the end of the season, possibly into next season. Since the turn of the year, we’ve had 18 games and 7 clean sheets, it would be good to get that defence tightened up a bit over the last 2 months.
So, I hope that Sinisalo approaches this with a view to taking over and cementing himself in the number 1 spot. Not because I don’t like Kasper, but because Kasper himself acknowledged that goalkeepers are in a very unique position in that it sometimes takes the misfortune of another to get a chance. Very few get rotated and for many it’s just a waiting game, quite a cruel one when you think about it. You either need the main mans form to drop like a stone, for them to get injured for a period of time or for them to be sold/retire to get a chance. If Sinasalo does push Kasper to second choice then that’s a massive positive for him and us, because that will be proof that he’s stepped in and done a great job.
I don’t do score predictions but I will predict the line-up:
I hope you enjoyed this bit of info about Saturday’s game and all being well it will be a common piece on here.
I appreciate any feedback, thoughts on the game and hopefully when it’s done a nice positive result and 3 points closer to the title.
*At time of completion Brendan Rodgers presser has not been released
MAFS AUS CSC.
Interested to see what Hearts bring today as I expect them to be our opponents in the Cup Final.
Cal to bring back the reassurance that we need and i think it will be 2-1 to the good guys.
I'd like to see Yang start today, as he has made a good impact over the last few months and deserves a chance to try and make the position his own..Also, if he does well it might give Kuhn the boot up the arse he seems like he's needing 🤣