Celtic have always been an ambitious club. It has been in our DNA since being founded and all. There’s also this whole 50th anniversary of winning the European Championship to celebrate.
This season is no different in terms of being ambitious, with the Bhoys looking to build off a domestic invincible season and set its heights higher in Europe for 2017/18.
So far it has been so good, with Celtic easing through its second round tie with LInfield. But, then issues began to arise.
There was the suspension for Leigh Griffiths “provoking” the LInfield fans after having missiles and bottles thrown at him. Only for that to be topped by the news of fellow striker Moussa Dembele picking up an injury in training.
Add in a dash of central defender Erick Sviatchenko and suddenly a home tie to open Champions League third round qualifying didn’t look so appetizing.
Those assumptions became true, as Celtic looked lifeless in the final third minus Griffiths and Dembele and were held to a 0-0 draw by the visiting Norwegian side.
Rodgers chose to go with Tom Rogic up top in a three-man front that saw James Forrest and Scott Sinclair on the wings.
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While Rogic was likely thrown in to the deep end, he sunk and he stunk. There was little presence from him and little linking play to advance any attacking efforts of the lads.
Kristoff Ajer was pressed in to action in the place of Sviatchenko. While he wasn’t awful, he didn’t make a strong case to see extended playing time going forward either. But, Ajer was far from the issue on Wednesday night at Celtic Park.
Plain and simple — Celtic have a glaring need for a third quality striker. It is something I have hinted at since December of last season and all we’ve seen is Rodgers clear out the backups to Griffiths and Dembele.
Sure, Cifcti and Christie weren’t getting much in the way of games. In Christie’s case, it had to be frustrating, as he was routinely passed over even when both stars were injured. He’s off on another season-long loan and likely permanent move to Aberdeen, so that option is no more.
Yet, here we are with a big problem that Rodgers and Co. have not solved since December of last year. We’ve seen Rodgers load up the midfield talent pool, but haven’t seen any real movement at positions of even more desperate need.
It shouldn’t be like the manager doesn’t see the need either.
We’ve seen this dance once or twice already with Dembele and Griffiths on the same squad. By “this dance,” I mean the fact that both are injury prone and subject to being out of action for long periods of time.
It has been reported that Dembele could miss over a month with his latest injury. That alone should not be good news given his frequent stops on the injured list this past season.
However, last year, Celtic were largely able to navigate domestically with the talent on hand despite the lack of depth up front. This season though, Celtic find themselves without Demeble just as the most important matches of the year are set to come.
Dembele will be missing both legs of the third round tie and likely missing whatever comes Celtic’s way should they advance through to the playoff round ahead.
Advancement is far from a foregone conclusion either, especially given what was seen from the Bhoys in attack on Wednesday night.
Griffiths will be back from his suspension, but after the match it was revealed he too is taken due to injury and his status for next week is unknown. Celtic need him in the worst possible way, or at least someone that can match his goal-scoring quality up front.
That person simply is not in the squad today, at least as anything more than a band-aid. As we saw today, that band-aid doesn’t work very well on the European stage.
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Let us be 100 percent honest, getting through the group stage is what Celtic are going to be measured by in 2017/18. More squad depth is going to be needed if the Bhoys are going to accomplish the bigger goals they have.
The money is there, the quality of scouting is there. Now is the time for the board and back room staff to make a move to shore up this glaring problem.