Celtic pundit Kevin Graham has recently criticised the fact that international friendlies are being played at this point of time.
Graham was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. Graham had some criticism about the fact that international friendlies are being played at this point of time, now that three Celtic players have tested positive for the virus.
Hatem Abd Elhamed has tested positive for the virus and his Israeli teammate Nir Bitton had tested positive before too. Apart from them, Odsonne Edouard tested positive last week. Ryan Christie has also gone into self-isolation as he came in close contact with Stuart Armstrong.
Should Celtic withdraw their players from international duty?
Yes
No
Graham believes that having international friendlies is ‘ridiculous’ and he believes that Celtic should withdraw their players from international duty.
He said: “The amount of international friendlies that are being played over this last week has been absolutely ridiculous. I do not see the point of friendly games at this time.
“It’s just an unnecessary risk for the players, for staff. It’s a box-ticking exercise, it’s a money-stiffening exercise. I want Celtic to withdraw their players from international duty now because we are at risk of a game at the weekend not going ahead.”
TIF Thoughts…
All three of Bitton, Elhamed and Edouard tested positive on international duty and Christie came in contact with Armstrong during the international break with Scotland too.
It shows that the international games have had a bad impact on Celtic and it has probably affected their preparations for the Old Firm derby. They might be without all of those four players at a time when beating Rangers would take them to the top of the Premiership table.
So since Celtic could have four players unavailable in such an important game, it is pretty understandable why Graham isn’t happy about the timing of the international friendlies.