Celtic have had to deal with a number of injury problems at the start of the season. Combine that with the fact that they have a ‘new’ manager in place in the form of Brendan Rodgers and several fresh faces who were signed over the summer, and it is not hard to understand why the Hoops seemed to make a sluggish start to the 2023/24 campaign.
As the season has progressed, they seem to have gotten better. Other than the 2-0 defeat against Feyenoord, Rodgers’ side have picked up some pretty decent results in recent weeks.
It is also worth mentioning that they are nowhere near full-strength just yet and quite a few players are still out on the sidelines, nursing injuries. So, one can expect Celtic to get even better.
Their next league match is an away trip to face Motherwell. Then they will play the second match of their Champions League group stage campaign, against Lazio at Parkhead. This is somewhat of a must-win game for Celtic if they want to qualify for the knockout phase.
Injured Celtic player set to return in time to face Lazio
There is some good news for Celtic on the injury front. It looks like Nat Phillips could be back in time to face Lazio.
As reported by The Herald, Rodgers:
"“Nat Phillips we are keeping an eye on, he has rejoined the group but we just have to make sure with his ankle.“But that looks much better. Hopefully (he will be back) for the weekend.”"
Phillips was signed on loan from Liverpool towards the end of the summer transfer window for just the first half of the season. He has only made one appearance for Celtic till now. That was not an impressive display either.
Phillips looked rusty on the day, perhaps expectedly so as he has played rarely for Liverpool. He also rolled his ankle, leading to him being subbed off at half-time. We have not seen the centre-back back in action since then.
Phillips is arguably the most experienced defender that Celtic have at the moment though. And someone like him could help them in a high-pressure Champions League game like the one against Lazio coming up.