Celtic captain Callum McGregor doesn’t think Brendan Rodgers will make as many changes to his starting 11 again this season as he did against Falkirk at the weekend.
The Parkhead boss made eight alterations to his team which begun against the Bairns on Sunday from the lineup versus Slovan Bratislava last Wednesday.
Alex Valle, Auston Trusty, Stephen Welsh, Anthony Ralston, Paulo Bernardo, James Forrest, Luis Palma, and Adam Idah all came into the team for the league cup quarter-final clash, which didn’t initially go to plan for the Bhoys.
With Celtic 2-1 down going into the last half hour, Rodgers was forced into bringing on the big guns.
His substitutions eventually made the difference, with the Hoops walking away 5-2 victors.
McGregor played the full game but doesn’t think his manager will make as many changes to the lineup ever again.
“When you make that many changes, it can disrupt it a little bit,” he said (Celtic FC on YouTube).
“I think moving forward, the manager will pick the team of course, but I don’t envisage so many changes like that in the weeks to come.”
In hindsight, out of all of Celtic’s recent and upcoming matches, the Falkirk game was the ideal opportunity for Rodgers to switch things around significantly.
The manager had to give opportunities to his fringe players and new signings at some point in the early stages of the new campaign. At home against Championship opposition, there was no better chance to do so than on Sunday.
Although he admitted post-match that he made too many alterations, Rodgers will have learned a lot about certain players in the game.
Numerous bhoys caught the eye, but equally, a fair few performed below par.
The team will likely return to full strength this weekend against St. Johnstone in Perth.
