Ange Postecoglou on 'luxury' Celtic squad as he reveals cautious Reo Hatate injury approach

Ange Postecoglou has pulled Reo Hatate out of the firing line because he has now assembled a Celtic squad where he no longer has to take risks with any of his top stars.

Hatate is feeling the pain of a bruising opening day win over Aberdeen and the Hoops boss has left him out of today’s trip to take on Ross County. The Japanese star has been a standout but Postecoglou reckons he now has strong options right across his squad and it is about keeping them all fresh and well for the upcoming domestic and Champions League challenges.

Postecoglou confirmed: “It’s all good, apart from Reo. He got a couple of knocks last week and a bit of a muscle strain so we held him back this week for a bit of rehab. There were a couple of hard tackles and some clashes didn’t come out of too well. He will miss this game but everyone else is okay.

“We have the luxury of having the squad now that means we don’t need to risk players or push players too much. We have no midweek games right now so we can give them the rehab, be conservative with them and get them right.”

It is the same with Carl Starfelt. He has been training all week but Postecoglou has central defensive options and doesn’t need to rush the Swedish international back. The Celtic boss stated: “Carl is back training and did the full week, but he’s obviously missed a fair bit.

“It’s just about getting him a game now but that will happen over the next two to three weeks. We will get him game-time and get him up to speed, but we have depth and there is no need to rush him back”

Postecoglou admitted that too much was asked of some of his players last season. That was something he was keen to address in this transfer window. He admitted David Turnbull, who could replace Hatate