Celtic haven’t had much fortune in the early stages of the season.
In fact, it’s been a wretched start to Ange Postecoglou’s reign as Hoops manager at Parkhead. They were beaten in their first league clash and will head to the Czech Republic on Thursday afternoon licking their wounds.
That said, this has been a productive week for Celtic. They have signed James McCarthy who was a free agent while they’ve also welcomed Joe Hart through the door.
The former has been left behind in Glasgow but Postecoglou has received a massive boost with Hart among the travelling party.
It has been hinted that he could make his debut in their Europa League qualifier just days after putting pen to paper.
The boss commented: “He’s been training well with his club and he was also really keen to come in straight away.
“I gave him a little bit of an option that he could stay back in Glasgow. But Joe made it pretty clear he wanted to come across and join in training immediately.
“I’ll assess him in training and we’ll take it from there.”
If Hart does indeed start against Jablonec, then it will be huge for their chances in the match.
After all, the current goalkeeper situation at Paradise is far from fruitful. Vasilis Barkas made a huge error against Midtjylland, failing to save a free-kick that went through his hands and then found the net.
Scott Bain has also been lacking confidence. Despite becoming the club’s number 1 option between the sticks last season, he isn’t a reliable figure.
The Scot proved as much when Celtic took on Hearts last weekend. A late free-kick was hoisted into the penalty area which Bain started to move towards his back post in order to stop.
However, John Souttar rose above Bitton and headed the ball past the goalkeeper who was standing in no man’s land.
With the pair already making costly mistakes this season, Postecoglou must look to Hart from the get-go in order to hand his side the best chance of qualifying for the Europa League group stages.
The former England international is a seasoned pro with plenty of continental experience under his belt. He will know exactly what it means on Thursday evening. The manager will be elated to have him available.