Callum McGregor

Hopefully he has had a chance to re-charge his batteries during his injury break, we need a fully fit Calmac on form for the run in.

 

Would think he's been in the gym and doing light training

 

Celtic captain Callum McGregor has a “very good chance” of making his return from injury against Rangers at Ibrox next weekend.

However the midfielder, who has missed recent games with an Achilles injury, won’t be part of the squad that takes on Livingston at Almondvale on Sunday.

The influential 30-year-old has been a big miss for club and country since he was taken off at half-time in the 7-1 win over Dundee.

He missed the 2-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle and both of Scotland’s friendly defeats to Northern Ireland and The Netherlands.

He has now returned to training but will not be risked on the artificial surface of the Tony Macaroni Arena on Sunday.




Speaking to the media on Friday, manager Brendan Rodgers said: “Callum has been out on the field, but we are not risking him in this game. But he should hopefully re-join training next week.”

When asked if he still had a chance of facing Rangers seven days later, the Celtic manager said: “Yes, a very good chance.”

Celtic lead the Premiership pack by a single point as the league returns to action this weekend, but they could find themselves back in second spot by kick-off on Sunday if Rangers, who also have a game in hand, beat Hibernian at Ibrox on Saturday

 

And that right there is why this vote to bin these * pitches needs past as soon as possible

A * ridiculous state of affairs when managers arn't capable of playing their strongest teams due the the pitch being a farce

 

I just don't understand it, players hate them, managers hate them. The pundits, commentators and journo's are constantly calling them out but yet we still have to * play on them... it's bollocks.

 

I wouldnt risk him on that. Certainly not CCV. He's just as important, if not more.

 

Personally don’t think he’ll be ready for next week. Think it’s just propaganda at this stage - the narrative is important at this point of the season.

 

Not sure about, his fitness is excellent, if there's a chance he'll play..

 

He wasn’t training with the team was he? Wouldn’t suggest to me he’d be ready for tomorrow. Alarm bells ringing for me.

Plus the initial rumours were that he would potentially miss the rest of the season. Anyway we’ll see in due course. Fingers crossed

 

Don't think anyone is suggesting he'll play this weekend.

Very few have the playing, or recovery record of McGregor. Completely different beast from Hatate, or even CCV.

Definitely wouldn't rule him out just yet.

 

Rodgers wouldn't have said what he did, if he's no chance of playing. He's normally honest with these type of things, from memory.

Also, as we play the same formation 99% of the time, he has no reason to lie. Clement will do their preparation expecting Calmac to play, and if he's not in the starting line up, he'll just tell whoever he had man marking him, to man mark Iwata instead and maybe change a couple of their instructions.

Fingers crossed he's ready though.

 

Will Callum be back for next week? Hopefully, hopefully. We'll see how he goes during the week, he's not trained as yet but he's improving so we'll take each day as it comes along the way and see what it brings

 

I would rather we arranged a bounce game during the week for McGregor to go into a derby game without kicking a ball in 6 weeks is a concern especially the speed of derby games.

 

Is he needing an operation and delaying it the way CCV was last season?

 

John Kennedy is desperate for Callum McGregor to make Sunday’s massive clash against Rangers at Ibrox, saying that the mere presence of the Celtic captain in the team lifts the rest of the players

The Celtic assistant manager is a massive admirer of McGregor’s abilities as a footballer first and foremost, but it is his leadership qualities that he believes could make a telling difference in what is shaping up to be a pivotal Old Firm clash in the context of the title race.

McGregor has been out of action since being withdrawn at half time in the 7-1 win over Dundee in late February, with manager Brendan Rodgers revealing that he has been struggling with an Achilles problem for some time.

He returned to light training during the international break, but wasn’t risked on Livingston’s artificial surface at the weekend as the champions ran out 3-0 winners in West Lothian

Kennedy backed up Rodgers’ assertion though that McGregor has a good chance of lining up at Ibrox on Sunday, and while he says there are other leaders within the team capable of stepping up to the plate in his absence, he admits that having McGregor’s experience and influence would be a major boost.


He’s the captain, the leader of the group,” Kennedy said.

“Everyone turns to him. The good thing is that outwith Cal, we have other good leaders in Joe (Hart), Cameron (Carter-Vickers), Ali Johnston and these boys. They can pick up when he’s not there.

“But as the manager has said, hopefully Cal will be back in [full] training in the middle of the week. We’ll get him through that then the manager will decide later in the week whether or not he’s fit to play.

 

Feel like it's a risk having Hatate and McGregor in midfield when both might have preferred having just a couple of more games before this one to ensure they are fully 100%.

But he is our captain so even if he's 70%, he'll start.

 

McGregor, Hatate, Bernardo and O’Riley anywhere near their best are better than anything they have in midfield. Up to the management team to assess them in training this week.