The Viljami Sinisalo and Sam Johnstone situation is being looked at all wrong.
Sinisalo sat out of Wednesday night's clash with St Johnstone, with the aptly named Sam Johnstone getting a chance to impress Martin O'Neill, who admitted he wanted to look at certain players in Perth, with it being a game the Hoops were expecting to win.
The Hoops won 1-0 on the night, with Mika Baur scoring the winner, and Johnstone managed to pull off a big save in the first half - and it was a very good save.
But one top save does not a starter make. Johnstone fell short with his distribution, and he actually ended up going down with cramp - yes, cramp - late in the game.
Sinisalo, meanwhile, has produced a catalogue of big saves so far this season, and his distribution has largely been very good. There have been a couple of stray passes, but the 24-year-old picks out brave passes into the midfield, while we saw Johnstone either choose easy passes to the back four, or he rushed long balls upfield that usually did not pan out.
After the game, O'Neill said he was impressed by Johnstone, but that the loan signing had things to work on. He said: "He makes a great save, which is a big, big moment in the game for us. Because it could have been Saturday night all over again.
"The save was fantastic — a really, really brilliant reaction save. He’s been a fine goalkeeper. It’s just a matter of getting up to speed with things. I think he took a bit of cramp then. A goalkeeper taking cramp, whatever next..."
On the back of the performance, Scott Brown suggested on Sky Sports that Johnstone is now the starter after his positive display, and that he will start on Sunday against Rangers.
But that is missing the point. Listening to O'Neill all season, his comments suggest this was simply a game he used to experiment with some new signings. He said: "Yes, he’s (Sinisalo) done very, very well indeed. But you need to find out. While I do not want to use games like this, I have to find out about a number of players."
There is nothing about those comments that suggest Johnstone will remain the starter going into the Old Firm. Sinisalo has earned the right to be the starter, and aside from one save, there is nothing about Johnstone's performance that stood out to the level of changing the current pecking order.
Celtic should be going with the most in-form and in-rhythm goalkeeper, and on top of all else, they should give their 24-year-old every opportunity to be a starter over a 33-year-old loan keeper. The Hoops have the chance to develop a keeper for years to come, and they should take it.
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