The Celtic squad will be thin as the Hoops enter Hampden Park on Saturday for a game against St Johnstone in the League Cup semi-final. As a result, Ange Postecoglou will be relying on a smaller group of players, as has been the case often this season, to get the job done on Saturday with three players looking set to be sidelined.
St. Johnstone are the defending League Cup champions while Celtic will be hoping to get back to winning silverware once again before the end of the year, having finished the previous campaign without a trophy.
But it looks like they will be without three of their players when they face St Johnstone at Hampden Park. The game is likely to come too early for both Carl Starfelt and Tom Rogic, while it has emerged that Giorgos Giakoumakis is out with a knee injury as well.
Alison Conroy tweeted out:
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou says Giorgos Giakoumakis will be out for at least another week with a knee injury. League Cup semi likely to be too soon for Carl Starfelt & Tom Rogic.
— Alison Conroy (@AlisonGConroy) November 18, 2021
Celtic handed triple injury blow heading into the Scottish League Cup semi-final
We all know that Rogic relishes big moments at Hampden Park, while Starfelt had established himself in the Hoops’ backline. Both of them have been out injured for a few weeks now and there were hopes that they could be back after the international break. But it looks like that won’t happen on Saturday. And now, Giakoumakis is set to miss out as well.
While the Hoops still have good options going forward, the biggest worry will be defensively with Starfelt’s absence. As a result, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Stephen Welsh are expected to form the pairing in the heart of defence for Celtic.
The duo have not looked very convincing in recent weeks though, and conceded four goals from the two games they started together before the international window.
The game was always expected to be a tough one with St Johnstone having won the Cup double last season for a reason. And their injury worries might have made things much tougher for the Hoops.