One could argue that this international break has come at a bad time for Celtic. They were in the middle of a great run of form, that had seen them win seven of their previous eight games across all competitions, while drawing the remaining one. Ange Postecoglou has confirmed the club’s plans over the coming weeks.

There are some positives to take from the timing of this break as well though. The biggest one is that it will give time to the likes of Tom Rogic and Carl Starfelt to recover from their respective injuries, and one would hope that they are back in action after the international break.

It also gives time to some players who have played constant football over the past several weeks to relax a bit, get some rest and freshen up for the upcoming games.

Postecoglou has given us a glimpse of the club’s plans over the international break. While speaking with BBC Radio Scotland and as reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Celtic manager said:

“It will be a mixture. Some need a little bit of a break and recovery, guys like Anthony Ralston and Jota. So it gives us a bit of a chance to freshen them up.

“Others need some work. There are others such as James Forrest, Giakoumakis, Mikey Johnston, James McCarthy. There’s quite a few. It’s a chance to put some work into them so we have them ready for when we come back.

“We’ve got a massive game, first game back. So that’ll be our next focus now.”

Celtic will need to come out of the international break on top of their game

While the international break might provide a few of the players some time to relax and get some rest after a few weeks of continuous football, they will have to come out it on top of their games.

The club’s next game is a Scottish League Cup semi-final against St Johnstone and it goes without saying that that might be Postecoglou’s biggest game since taking over the managerial hot seat at Celtic over the summer.

Celtic won the recent game between the two sides but St Johnstone will have their own reasons to be confident of their chances as well, having won the Cup double last season. Thus, it could turn out to be a very interesting game.

This article was originally posted here