It may be audition time for a few Celtic players ahead of Sunday's Premiership Old Firm with Rangers. We learned more lessons about this Bhoys side last Sunday, when they crumbled against Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup, losing 3-0 and getting bullied in every phase of the game.
What the result and performance told us was that Celtic have the talent to compete and dominate when they are a much superior team, and things are going well, but in big games against tougher sides, they are not currently able to compete, be it because of mindset or physicality, and they need to improve in both.
Thursday night's clash with Ferencvaros in the Europa League offers the chance to bounce back quickly, but with the first league Old Firm of the season on Sunday, some players are going to have to earn their starting place for that game. Here we take a look at who.
Kasper Hogh
Martin O'Neill has shown no willingness to drop Hogh, but after the striker's Old Firm performance, not even he can ignore that the Dane is bang out of form.
Hogh has been poor in front of goal throughout his time at Celtic so far, with the lone exception being his hat-trick game, and his ability to play good hold-up play has slowed in recent outings.
Hogh needs to bounce back here, and if he doesn't, O'Neill will surely have to consider playing Duran in that central role ahead of Hogh on Sunday.
The goalkeeper
Forgive the lack of name here, but this could be either Viljami Sinisalo or Sam Johnstone on Thursday night. Johnstone has come in for plenty of criticism for his poor performance against Rangers over the weekend, leading to calls for Sinisalo, who has played well all season, to come back in.
If Johnstone starts again, he is going to have to start proving himself, and if Sinisalo starts, he is going to have to prove why he is the rightful choice as the starter.
Mika Baur
Baur has played well on the whole, but there are concerns about his physicality, and Sunday showed well. He was outmuscled and rarely able to get on the ball.
It's likely the German keeps his place here, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suspended, but after what he saw on Sunday, O'Neill is going to be tempted to play the Ox this coming Sunday to cope with the physicality of the Old Firm. Baur must prove he can't be dropped with a big performance on Thursday night.
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