Celtic may have to adjust the way they play over the coming weeks, and Martin O'Neill knows it. The Bhoys have plenty of options at the top end of the pitch, although having all of them available at the same time is another thing.
The Hoops have been without Kasper Hogh over the last couple of weeks, with their lead striker dealing with an injury, and that has allowed Camilo Duran to play in his more natural central role. The Colombian's form has meant Celtic haven't really missed Hogh, but there are tougher games ahead, particularly in Europe, and they will be glad to get him back, be that on Wednesday night against St Johnstone or Sunday against Rangers.
But just as Hogh has returned, in-form winger Yang Hyun-jun has jetted off to join the South Korea team for their Asian Games campaign, meaning Celtic will be without him until after the international break.
When Yang does return, and assuming everyone stays fit, O'Neill is going to have some decisions to make. In terms of his best options, he will have two central strikers in Duran and Hogh, as well as two quality wing options in Yang and Haissem Hassan.
Fitting four players into three spots is not an easy task, and it may be that O'Neill decides the current system is the best one, and that one player simply has to miss out, but some experimentation may be required to make sure Celtic are not wasting resources by playing a system that doesn't maximise the team's ability.
O'Neill does seem open to it, too, telling Sky Sports this week: "Whatever we do, when everybody is absolutely fit, then it’s a matter of trying to get your best players on the field.”
System experiment may not only benefit the front line
Those comments came in relation to the front line, with the striker and winger roles clearly Celtic's strength. But the midfield may also benefit from a system tweak. As things stand, Mika Baur is having to play something of an in-between role.
Baur is technically in that holding midfield role, alongside Callum McGregor, but he is playing with more licence to play further forward. Baur has been playing better in that role, compared to the more disciplined holding role, which did not look right for him.
But one has to wonder whether he will thrive in a true box-to-box role, which would likely require Celtic playing McGregor a touch more advanced, albeit with him having the licence to largely concentrate on his defensive responsibilities.
Such positional tweaks are the finer details of a system, and it's always a balance to get the system right so that a team can get the best out of all its players, and that sometimes means getting 10% less out of some players to allow others to be maximised, but without the experimentation, Celtic risk reducing the output of too many players.
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