SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

After all the midweek excitement as we battled Bayern, it is back to the nitty-gritty of the league campaign today. That almost makes it sound like a distraction, but nothing could be further from the truth-winning the title is our No 1 Priority this season, as it has been in every season since Adam were a lad. 

The reasons for this are obvious. Winning the title assures us of our best crack at The Champions League, which next season will see us enduring “only” one qualifying round. Win it, and we are once again in with the big boys, in with the big bucks which supplies the income for investment in players. It also gives us another four home games to the backdrop of the rousing Zadok The Priest, a harmless little ditty which drives our hun friends mental when they hear it as our ringtone! 

But that is for another day. Today is all about the visit of Dundee United. When we last played them at the beginning of January, they were on a bit of a roll. Since then,they have one win in five. Our last game against them was fairly comfortable, the gulf in class showing that day as we ran out very straightforward winners. 

However,only two weeks before that they held us to a 0-0 draw. None of us who watched that will want to see a repeat-indeed, none of us could bear to watch a repeat. It was a bloody awful match, the kind that makes you want to take up knitting instead. For that reason, they aren’t to be taken lightly. 

BR doesn’t tend to take any opposition lightly, and even with the second leg of our CL tie against Bayern on Tuesday, I expect to see a full-strength side named. Our full-strength, of course, still offers some variation. Will Maeda play through the middle, or will that role be entrusted to Idah? Will Maeda start at all, given that Jota still needs game time? Or Yang for Kühn? Will Scales start at centre-back, and if so, which of the two incumbents will be rested? Is it Taylor or Sclupp at left back? Will McCowan get the nod at the start, allowing the boss to rest Engels or Hatate? What about Ralston? 

Although that looks as though we have a capable and adaptable squad, and there’s no doubt that every other manager in the country would give their eye teeth for such selection dramas, there is little doubt that we are significantly short in midfield. We went into the season with five players, and while we had up till now been very fortunate with injuries, our luck had to end some time. And it has, with Bernardo being ruled out for around six weeks. So, down to four then. And that is something which should definitely concern us. 

I’ve been rooting around our B team and youths for possible replacements, and I’m afraid there doesn’t appear to be one who looks remotely capable of stepping up. We will just have to hope that future injuries in that department are avoided, for we have no other option. This obviously needs to be addressed in the summer, and I’d expect us to be looking at one or other of the midfield regulars for other Scottish clubs. 

While that probably brings us back to the hardy perennial of Lennon Miller, there are other options available. Including a former colleague of McCowan at Dundee. It would be harsh on Tony Docherty for us to take another of his players, especially given that a third has agreed to join up next season at Ibrox, but that’s the harsh reality of football nowadays. Hand out short-term contracts and they can come back to bite you in the rear end! Either way, whether we concentrate on finding a suitable signing in Scotland or elsewhere, we cannot go into next season so short in such a vital area of the pitch. 

But back to today. In form opponents or not, we should be looking at three points from this one. That’s not to say it is a gimme, for I fully expect it to be a hard-fought ninety minutes. I’m looking forward to watching it, that’s for sure. Two things I want today then-three points and no further injuries. It’s hard to say which is more important. 

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Above article by BMCUWP