manager to check on players' fitness

David Friel
CELTIC manager Gordon Strachan has promised to give several key players up until the last minute to prove their fitness ahead of Saturday’s SPL derby with Rangers.

While declaring Paul Hartley and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to be long-shots to feature in the game, the Hoops boss will monitor the fitness of Gary Caldwell and Scott Brown before making a final decision on his line-up for Ibrox.

“Paul and Jan have been getting treatment and doing a bit of jogging,” he said. “Those two are doubtful at the moment.

“They were jogging around the pitch this morning and whether they can up their work tomorrow, that’s up to the medical staff and the two boys. I’m putting no pressure on them whatsoever.

“Caldwell and Brown have a better chance of making it, but they are still doubtful. Gary did a wee bit and we’ll see if he has a reaction to that tomorrow.

“Scott wasn’t out training at all, but we’ll see how he is in the morning and see if he can do a bit of training. However, he won’t be risked if he’s not right.”

With Mark Wilson, Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe and Paul Caddis all definitely out, the manager will to see who is available before deciding on who will fill the right-back position.

He also hopes that his many international players – including Stephen McManus, Aiden McGeady, Chris Killen, Artur Boruc and Maciej Zurawski – report back on Friday with no injuries.

“We’ve heard nothing untoward about all the players coming back from international duty,” he said. “We’ve just told the guys that we’ll see them on Friday for training.

“Then we’ll try to put a team in place for the Rangers game, but we’re only together for a matter of hours before what is a massive game of football. However, that’s what happens when you play at this level.

“For both sets of players to give good value for money, it would have been nice to have a bit more rest before the game.

“That would mean the fans paying good money to see their teams would get fresh players. That’s not going to happen on Saturday.

“Physically, it’s going to be a problem and mentally it’s the same. You have to deal with that, but it’s hard sometimes.

“You won’t find players at their sharpest. I know for a fact that you would get a better game if the players from both sides had an extra two days of rest.”

The build-up to the first Glasgow derby of the season has been largely overshadowed by Scotland’s international fortunes, but domestic matters will once again come to the fore on Saturday.

With a three-point advantage, table-toppers Celtic go into this game in good spirits. As ever, it will be a high-profile encounter. However, the manager stressed that its overall importance will only become apparent at the end of the season.

He added: “You try to win every game and you never know how important it’s going to be. You try your best and you try to win every match. How important the game is, you don’t know until the end of the season.

“It could be of no consequence at all, or it could be very important. There are 28 games to go after Saturday, so there will be other important matches. We just have to try to win every game.

“At this point, we are just happy to be top of the league. We’ve had a fantastic start and for us to be top of the league is a great bonus. We’re quite happy with our start. It could have been better – but we’re quite happy.”