Opinion: Celtic boss has to get major full-back decisions correct

One of the most intriguing battles of Celtic‘s Glasgow derby against Rangers at Celtic Park on Wednesday might be in the full-back area. The Hoops will be hoping to stifle a Rangers side that has had some success in recent derbies, with Ryan Kent causing the Hoops some problems.

It will be interesting to see who Ange Postecoglou selects as his starting full-backs in the game. For the recent match against Dundee United, the Hoops boss spring a bit of a surprise by selecting Liam Scales and Anthony Ralston in the starting line-up.

The Hoops boss must have realised that wasn’t working, as at half-time Josip Juranovic replaced Scales, and in the second-half Greg Taylor eventually replaced Ralston. So Celtic ended the game with Juranovic and Taylor at full-back.

The fact that four different players have played at full-back in one game perhaps indicate that the Hoops boss has yet to decide on who his first-choice selections for those roles are. On the other hand, perhaps he was giving the players a rest as the Hoops have so many fixtures to play over the next few weeks.

If it was a move to give Juranovic and Taylor a rest, it didn’t work, as both players featured in the game. Juranovic actually played a part in the goal that Celtic scored against Dundee United, as it was his pass to Jota which set the winger free to set up Liel Abada for the winning goal.

At this moment in time, it would seem that the duo that finished the game in the full-back roles for Celtic will probably start the Glasgow derby in those positions.

That will be interesting in particular for Juranovic, who played his only derby against Rangers thus far at left-back, now he might well play in his more natural position.

That would be a boost for the Hoops, and