As a fan of club football, there is nothing worse than the international break. Sure, this one provides a juicy Scotland-England matchup and here in the States we get Mexico-United States to look forward to.
But, for club football there is nothing worse than seeing an in-form squad separated and scattered around the globe representing their national sides. Chemistry is everything and taking the players away from each other for a week can mess with that.
Celtic fans are well aware of the pratfalls of international breaks this season. Injuries have hit the squad at just about every international break. From Leigh Griffiths’ hamstring knock to Nir Bitton’s injury scare for Israel, neither player has been the same for the Bhoys since.
This time around, Celtic will see captain Scott Brown make a re-appearance for Scotland just in time for its big match at Wembley Stadium against England. Brown will be joined by Hoops teammates Craig Gordon, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths for Scottish duty.
Meanwhile there are no fewer than five other first-team players playing for the full national teams they represent. Bitton will go for Israel, while Mikael Lustig will go for Sweden and then there is the trio of big time travelers — Cristian Gamboa (Costa Rica), Emilio Izaguirre (Honduras) and Tom Rogic (Australia).
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There’s also young international duty for some of Celtic’s brightest stars. Moussa Dembele will be in the French U-21 squad, while Liam Henderson (who has seen a large run-out from Rodgers as of late) will be in the Scottish U-21 side along with some of Celtic’s developmental squad.
Patrick Roberts may be the most worrisome on the travel front, as he will play three games in the Continental Cup held in South Korea for the England U-20 squad. Yes, three games in a short span and travel to and from South Korea will be in the mix for a player who seems to be gaining confidence for the first team at Paradise.
However, all of those players making appearances aside, Celtic also have an opportunity to rest some players that desperately need it.
Scott Sinclair won’t be on international duty for England and he has been a staple in Celtic’s squad all season long. Getting him a week off from football can be a good thing. Other players like Jozo Simunovic, Eric Sviatchenko and Stuart Armstrong have equally been staples over the past few months and some have knocks to get rid of.
There’s also the help to Kieran Tierney, who was ruled out for two months on October 28 due to ankle ligament damage.
Rest for them is just a critical as not getting injured for those away on international duty.
Let’s also remember Celtic hasn’t exactly been lighting it on fire as of late. It couldn’t get needed points against Borussia Monchengladbach in Champions League play and has struggled to put major results on opponents in the Scottish Premiership too.
It took a big late effort from Sinclair and the regulars who came on to get a 4-0 result against Kilmarnock last month and even the most recent 3-0 win over Inverness felt like it should’ve been so much more.
Perhaps this international break gives everyone some time to get away from each other and regroup with a fresh outlook at attitude ahead of some major matches to come.
Celtic will be a week from the League Cup final and face matches against the likes of Kilmarnock and Barcelona ahead of that final against Aberdeen.
Having a recharged and ready to go club heading in to those matches after some struggles before it will be crucial.