It’s never good to have any kind of side show in the build up to a game with your rivals. There has been far too much energy getting put into clubs names and clubs histories. At 1:30pm on Sunday when a whistle is blown all these side shows become extremely unimportant and will have little or no impact for the following 90 minutes.
Celts Are Here only care and concern ourselves with one club and in any rivalry, anywhere in world football some basic rules apply. Form means nothing, league positions mean nothing and some case league divisions mean nothing. This is isn’t exclusive to rivalry but apparently it applies to cup football too. You don’t have to look to far a field or back in the football archives for a few examples or proof of this. Last weekend Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Man United all got involved in “Cup Upsets” or “Giant Killings”.
The Chelsea result will probably be talked about in England in FA Cup folklore for the next 50 years. Fast forward to Sunday and Ronny Delia needs to get his team selection and tactics spot on. But what’s much more important than this is a 90 minute attitude towards your opposition. Celtic have a large amount of players who have never experienced the heated atmosphere of an Old Firm. You might not want to call it an Old Firm, you might not want the word Rangers mentioned but when the whistle blows you’ll find it hard to separate it from a game of football that’s essentially been played 328 times in the past.
Celtic have had a run of good form over the past 3 games, racking up 9 points to push them top of the table. Does Ronny stick to his winning formula or does he need to tinker and add an element of surprise? For the first time this season Ronny has a fully fit squad to choose from so he is spoiled for choice. Some positions will pick themselves others need some thought put into them. One thing is for sure the Celtic bench will be strong but hopefully on the hour mark substitutes will be used to give some players a rest as Celtic enjoy a comfortable lead.
We are inviting our readers to give your starting eleven, if your going for a controversial choice maybe tell us why. Guidetti seemed to be made for this game only months ago but his form has dropped and huge questions marks hang over if he really wants to be a Celt, but he was fairly keen on doing some damage so do you let him lose or keep him on the bench?
Lustig returned to the fold last week and looked like he had never been away but Adam Matthews has been solid at right back although he spends most of his time in oppositions halfs whipping in crosses and scoring the odd goal of the season contender.
Will Stokes have his work cut out keeping his place in the side, apparently he was exhausted after his first game back and Neil Lennon never fancied him for such games. Central midfield & centre backs surely pick themselves don’t they?
(Comment Below)
