It’s a massive night in Paradise tonight and there’s no getting away from the importance of these two legs with Qarabag. It’s vital that we take a clean sheet and a decent result over to Azerbaijan next week and who Ronny chooses up-front is of the upmost importance.
The starting XI for tonight’s game almost picks itself. Charlie Mulgrew is out and Commons isn’t fully fit yet but other than that Ronny has his whole squad to choose from.
Craig Gordon in goals with Izzy likely to come back into the side with Boyata and van Dijk in central defence, leaving Lustig to run things down the right.
Celtic have a plethora of talent in midfield but it again almost picks itself. You have Brown and Johansen that are instant starts then Biton and Armstrong with GMS and Forrest alternating depending on what Ronny wants.
But then comes the striker issue. Ciftci might only be two games but there’s already talk about if he’s “good enough” after not finding the net already. Very pre-mature stuff! However you would be a fool not to notice that Leigh Griffith’s seems ready and hungrier than ever to get on the goal sheet. Shining in all Celtic’s pre-season games and bagging a hat-trick on one occasion. Even though the striker has been on form so far he has started from the bench.
This is the biggest decision of the night for Ronny. Ciftci drags defenders about the place, contributes to good hold up play and is a general nuisance. Leigh Griffiths on the other hand gets goals. If I were Leigh I would be feeling a bit hard done by so far. The manager continually sings his praises then his face must drop when he sees the team sheet. Ciftci will bed in nicely at Celtic Park but tonight is a night when we need to be firing on all cylinders and I believe Leigh will give us that edge.
Give Leigh the first 60-70 minutes then bring on Ciftci when there defenders start to tire. Or Ronny could go totally rogue and start with both of them….
Food for thought.
Who would you start? (Comment Below)
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