Celtic’s performance against Falkirk in their recent Scottish Premiership clash was far from satisfactory for the fans. Clearly it was not enough to forget the recent disaster in Austria against LASK.
Manager Martin O’Neill made three changes to the Celtic squad that faced LASK. Haissem Hassan made his full debut for the Hoops, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Liam Scales were added back to the starting lineup.
Both Hassan and Oxlade-Chamberlain filled in for Callum McGregor and Kasper Hogh, who were unavailable for the matchup against Falkirk.
Celtic forward’s concerning picture
McGregor is thought to be ill, while Hogh has an injury. The extent of those issues remains to be seen. But on the other hand, it looks like the supporters have another issue to be worried about.
The Parkhead faithful now might have to shift their attention to another fitness issue as second-half substitute Callum Osmand was pictured leaving Celtic Park on crutches with a medical-support boot strapped on his left leg.
O’Neill decided to bring in the 20-year-old forward in the 69th minute of the game, replacing Camillo Duran, who scored both of Celtic’s goals against Falkirk.
Minutes after that substitution, Falkirk pulled one back, as academy hero Colby Donovan was unlucky to put one into the back of his own net. And things once again started to get uncomfortable for the Hoops.
The final few minutes seemingly turned into a tense situation, but O’Neill’s men managed to finish the game with all three points, which is always important in a long and grueling campaign.
Will Callum Osmand’s injury pose a problem to Celtic’s squad depth?
Osmand’s injury will be a concern for the club management as they look to have closed their recruitment for the attacking lineup following the signings of Duran, Hogh and Hassan earlier this summer.
During Osmand’s time on the pitch against Falkirk today, there seemingly wasn’t any particular incident which could have caused his injury. But after the full-time whistle, Mika Baur was seen pulling up the young forward, who was sitting down in the middle of the park.
The youngster certainly had an injury-riddled start to his Celtic career, as he missed most of last season due to an injury but made it back just in time to score in two of the most important games.
One of them was against Hearts, which sealed the Premiership title last season. Now, early on in the new campaign, Osmand could be heading towards another spell on the sidelines due to injury as we look to the preliminary test reports in order to assess the level of the damage.
