Transfer woes aside, Celtic has enough quality to beat Kairat

With just over 24 hours remaining until the most crucial game of our campaign thus far, we have frustratingly failed to improve our playing squad, but regardless we should still have more than enough to make it four consecutive seasons amongst Europes elite.

The last time we had to face a qualifier in this tournament was back in 2021 against FC Midtjylland and it’s fair to say that despite our inability to strengthen the side we are in a much better shape than we were four years ago.

Indeed we are in much better shape than we’ve been in all our previous qualifiers at this stage in recent years, although we’ve a different cause for concern as previously it was our backline that was the subject of anxiety as we faced such crucial ties.

Despite some criticism in that department we can breathe a little easier in that aspect now as we boast a very steady and reliable backline which has been further boosted by the additions of Kieran Tierney and the recently added Jahmai Simpson – Pusey.

The Celtic midfield is probably the strongest area of the team and we are also well covered in the goalkeeping department.

It’s now the turn of our attacking options to be put under the microscope due to the departure of Nicolas Kuhn, and the abysmal failure to replace Kyogo, and of course being denied the services of Jota through long term injury has further compounded those Celtic woes.

We do however still have the threat of Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah who despite being a bit off form in the opening fixtures have the ability to score at this level, something they proved in last years campaign as they scored a combined seven goals in the thirteen we amassed in our eight games in the group stage.

We are short on wingers to say the least with James Forrest likely to start on the right and Daizen on the left meaning Adam Idah will lead the line looking to kick-start his own campaign after disappointing outings against both St Mirren and Aberdeen.

We still need to recruit as a matter of urgency, but we should have more than enough to overcome Kairat tomorrow night and to secure our qualification in Kazakhstan a week tonight.

I reckon that the Celtic team to take on Kairat will be as follows:

Schmeichel: Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney; McGregor (c), Hatate, Nygren,  Forrest, Idah and Maeda. 

Subs: Sinisalo, Ralston, Trusty, Murray, Engels, Bernardo, McCowan, Yang, Shin, Kenny