Reo Hatate will not be risked on the artificial pitch at Rugby Park. That was announced by Ange Postecoglu at the Friday press conference yesterday. With such depth in the squad, you would expect that David Turnbull will start in his absence with Aaron Mooy and James McCarthy vying for an opportunity off the bench this Sunday.
Looking at the fixtures from last week, I would expect Kilmarnock to try to stay compact at the back and stifle our play. The narrow nature of Rugby Park will make this an easier task for them than it was at Ibrox last week. Often with teams playing Celtic it is easy to be critical of teams who sit back and try to hold on, but McInnes, clearly doesn’t feel he has the personnel in yet to cope with a step up in class.
Speaking after the game last week, The Scotsman reported that McInnes said, “We are frantically trying to put together a squad that helps us compete and try to bridge the gap.
“We haven’t spent any money and are trying hard so the first port of call was to come here, frustrate and stay in the game as long as we could.”
Kilmarnock will seek to frustrate and exploit any set pieces they get. It will be vitally important that we are fully concentrating at the back and to be patient. With the capabilities of our players, we can be confident of breaking down any defence.
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