Good news on Mikael Lustig. It seems the old hamstring isn’t completely knackered, and Ronny Deila thinks he might even make tuesdays return match with Malmo;

“It doesn’t seem to be so serious,” 

“He has a chance on Tuesday. We will see.” 

Which sparked a little bit of debate between the support. What level of fitness does he have to be at to be risked in what is the most important game of the season, both financially and from the point of morale.

A bad result and Virgil van Dijk will probably leave. One or two others may follow. The list of players coming in will shorten, and the quality on it will lessen.

A good result and we walk on air for a few weeks more. Players who up until now have never featured at the top level will be more inclined to listen to offers from Celtic, which to be fair is a lttle harsh on those who would have battled to get us there.

That, however, is the nature of the beast. The all consuming demand for results, and its hard to argue that the current squad will make an impact on the UCL. We do need quality cover, but he who is quality won’t come to provide cover.

With Celtic facing dundee united at lunchtime today, there is a possibility that certain first picks, such as Brown, Biton, Gordon, Forrest, even Griffiths may be rested. The dilemma is that any continuity built up will be lost, and so Ronny has to decide whether or not to field fringe players or to stick with his best eleven.

 A side of Bailly, Fisher, Ambrose , Mulgrew, Tierney , Rogic, Allan, Mackay Steven, Commons, Stokes and Scepovic should be strong enough to see off the Taysiders, but do we really want to risk falling further behind pace setters Hearts or  Aberdeen , both of whom have one hundred per cent records ?

But putting out a full side could result in injuries… or tiredness at a crucial stage of Tuesdays game.

It’s a tricky one, and next season when it comes to choosing a game to postpone, maybe the one scheduled for in between the play offs should be considered.

Ronny has given his response to Malmo’s post match gamesmanship, by , er, not responding;

“We can’t go to that level, that is not Celtic. It is up to them to say what they want.

“I watched the game again and I didn’t see any trouble. It was a fair game and as far as I remember we won 3-2. We’re happy with the result and have a good opportunity to go through.” 

We might be a bit nervy ahead of the return, but the Norwegian doesn’t seem bothered. In fact, he seems to have the measure of the Malmo coach and his mind games;

“It is not anything new for him.

“He is a funny guy, this is funny. I have seen it before and I also have to say that I don’t think we lost the game.

“It seems like they have won three or four zero when he talks. I don’t see the tiredness. I don’t think we seemed tired against Qarabag [in the previous round].

“Every game has different things in it. We were disappointed that we conceded in the last second but we won and we have a good opportunity on Tuesday.”

And as for the Pigs comment, Ronny pointed out;

“Lions. We are lions! 

The boss also spoke of his delight with the born again James Forrest, who might just about to do something relatively unique in a Celtic jersey, and realise his potential;

“I was so happy and pleased with James. We see his potential and I told him in November the Champions League qualification this year was 
when he was hopefully going to be 
the difference for us because he has something special.

“I knew he had a long way to go to come back after all his injuries. I told him he needed to be patient.

“But now you can see more and more with his consistency and the workrate he had on Wednesday night – I am in love with the guy when I see him like that.

“If he can get up to that level and 
do even better then we have a top 
international player in our squad.” 

Any hopes Peter Lawwell may have had of cashing in on him looked to have been dashed by Deila;

“Never mind a lot of money, hopefully it will be just a lot of trophies. I would rather think of that.

“We want to extend his contract of course, he is a player we want to have with us in future.

“James has game-changing abilities. Against Kilmarnock it was not easy to be a full-back against him. It was also the case against Malmo.

“He needs to work hard the same as his other team-mates and that’s why I was very happy with his reaction the other night. It was much better than it was before.

“He really wants to do it and needs time to get everything into his head.”

So you can see where the dilemma comes in about breaking the continuity, as Forrest is on form now, and any break may see him starting over again.

But then theres the risk he will take a hammering and end up injured.

For what it’s worth, i would go with the flow and keep the momentum going. Play the strongest team available, and keep that team spirit together. Maybe after an hour or so you can start to change things, but this team at the moment is struggling with concentration after going ahead.

Today would be a good day to start dealing with that.

On the rumour front, Ryan Gauld has been allowed to go out on loan by Sporting Lisbon, fuelling specualtion that he ay end up at Celtic. This is unlikely as we already have our quota of ex Dundee United players, and will be breaking all sorts of employment laws should we hire him.

And Gary Hooper ? Norwich boss Alex Neil said;

“As far as I am concerned, there is no interest in Gary Hooper. There has been a lot of speculation in the media, but until anything is concrete then we won’t be commenting on it.

“In fact, we won’t be commenting on anything concerning any players, whether they are going or staying, because ultimately the ones we want to bring in are not our players.”

And anyway, he’s going to Sheffield Wednesday.

Today then, keep with the first eleven, and introduce the likes of Allan, Rogic or Mackay Steven later on, and lets have a nice tidy four or five goal win, and not take our foot off the pedal when the game is won.

 Thats the best way to prepare for Tuesday.

As for the worry about injuries, players can hurt themselves closing a wardrobe door, so if it’s going to happen it will.

Back to Age Hareide, and we have exclusive news of who he gets his ideas from…..

And the Mark Warburton revival has reached those millions of Second Rangers fans overseas, with the formation of a new supporters club out in the middle east;

Elsewhere in the news, there are calls for Ian Duncan Smith, the governments hatchet man to resign after he was accused of using fake claimants to bolster his campaign to eliminate the disabled.

Remember, the government wants a health system like the American one. which, in a fictional tv series, a man with lung cancer manufactured crystal meth to pay for his treatment.

Astonishingly, and perhaps a sign of the times, no-one highlighted his motives or called it fantasy.

Headline of the Day ?

Mark Warburton: I’m a Spurs fan but the North London derby’s got

nothing on the football rivalry in Glasgow.

His explanation ?

“At the golf club a passionate Rangers fan came over and there was someone from the other side as well and they were having a laugh. It’s a passionate football city in my mind.

Fair enough. He’s right.

We’ve never laughed so much.

Danny McGrain was the unlikely goalscorer in a 5-0 win at Gayfield over Arbroath in yesterdays picture. A true leader and a legend.

Now, when Warburton spoke of us having a laugh, he was probably unaware of just how funny we find them.

Please, someone, tell me what this is all about;

It’s not a photoshop. It’s from that article mentioned above.