Hoops News 11.30.07: We’ve Got No Fullbacks!

By: JT | November 30th, 2007

We now know the severity of the injuries to Lee Naylor and John Kennedy, who both left Wednesday’s Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk during the first half on stretchers.

Naylor will be out with a calf strain. Since Nayls arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2006, he’s been in every First XI, and that includes pre-season friendlies. Left-footed central defender Darren O’Dea is the likely replacement.

I rate O’Dea highly, and the only reason that he hasn’t gotten a run in the first team is WGS‘ reluctance to play him with fellow lefty Stephen McManus in the center of defense. He’s already been called up to Ireland’s senior squad, and has top notch talent. It’ll be good for him to get some quality experience both domestically and abroad in the next few matches.

Kennedy, who’s left knee has already been through three years of injury hell and torturous rehab, will only be out for three months. That’s great news, because I think everyone had their hearts in their throats when he went down clutching that knee. You have to love a guy that works that hard to pull the Hoops on again, so here’s to a speedy recovery.

The injuries to Naylor and Kennedy mean that the Celts will be playing with four natural central defenders for the next few weeks, with Gary Caldwell manning right back, and the ancient Steven Pressley supplementing McManus and O’Dea. Youngster Paul Caddis is another potential right-back replacement, but his time may not have come quite yet.

Right-backs Mark Wilson (knee) and Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe (Achilles) are currently rehabbing injuries, but their return to the first team is nowhere near imminent.

Despite the injury crisis in defense, WGS is sticking to his original plans for the winter transfer market.

THIS WEEKEND

The Celts travel to Edinburgh tomorrow to face Heart of Midlothian, who have started to right their sinking ship a wee bit. Still, Hearts currently sit sixth in the table, which is unsatisfactory by their recent standards.

Celtic whipped the Jambos at Celtic Park earlier this season, but Hearts responded by smacking the Celts 2-0 in the CIS Insurance Cup in late October. Traveling to Tynecastle has never been an easy task for Celtic, and after the high drama of the midweek, this one will be tough.

Provided the new look defense can hold itself together, I’m sure Celtic can avoid defeat. I’d like to think the Bhoys will be able to pull this one out, but this has draw written all over it. 1-1 as Celtic ready themselves for the trip to Milan on Tuesday.

Ian’s right, Celtic should win this match handily, especially considering Hearts’ most recent result against the SPL’s worst team, Gretna. For some reason I’m always unduly pessimistic about away league matches after big European efforts.

3-1 to the Celts with Scott McDonald, Scott Brown, and McManus getting on the board.