OPINION
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers appears to be a man of habit, as he constantly selects the same players regardless of how in or out of form they might be.
Either thar, or he simply does not hold any faith in the figures sitting on the fringes of the first team, and believes that an out of form senior star could perform better than a rarely seen man chomping at the bit to make his impression of the senior side.
If the latter, then there are serious issues when it comes to the depth in quality at Parkhead, and something needs to be done – and Rodgers himself has been bemoaning the unnecessary size of his squad this early on in the campaign.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun when speaking to BT Sport, he said: “There’s no denying we’ve got too many players. To have a competitive squad is very, very important to push players and to extend the quality in which you can play.
“But we have too many players that either didn’t go out because they felt the need to stay at Celtic and play and some people that couldn’t get a club. So that has meant that our squad is very, very bloated.”
With January around the corner, the Northern Irish boss will no doubt be thinking of who is deserving of the chop, and there are no less than six names who must be fearing for their futures.
Firstly, you have the likes of veteran men Dorus De Vries, Marvin Compper and Jonny Hayes – all above the age of 30 – who, despite their experience, evidently have no part to play at Parkhead, sitting close to, or at the very bottom, of the pecking order.
Meanwhile there are others in the squad who fans will have likely forgotten are still paid by the Bhoys, such as Scott Allan, Cristian Gamboa and Nir Bitton, all of which, through form or injury, have struggled to make any impact on Rodgers’ team decisions.
The six are unlikely to be the only ones in the firing line when January comes around, but despite being behind a number of names when it comes to the team selection, they are front and centre for the chopping block.