Chris Sutton
CELTIC’S lack of a striker against Rosenborg was painfully obvious.
But I don’t go along with this easy notion Brendan Rodgers should have just brought another one in.
Listen, I understand why so many people are questioning him going in to the campaign with just two frontmen.
I can see the point in having more men available as back-up.
But the reality of the situation is it’s far more difficult than it sounds.
Rodgers has been forced to go with just Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths – even if it did prove costly against Rosenborg.
But what choice did he have really? Celtic play with one man up front and it’s extremely CELTIC LEGEND WRITES EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU difficult keeping two guys happy.
Keeping three sweet would be near impossible.
It’s alright saying Rodgers should have more strikers but in truth he’d be damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.
Who is this third striker he’d be able to bring in anyway?
You’re not going to get a top-quality front player who is going to come to Scotland and be happy to sit on the bench every week behind Dembele and Griffiths. It’s not going to happen.
I certainly wouldn’t have come north if there was any suggestion I wouldn’t be playing.
Any striker worth their salt wants to be on the pitch and the ones who would be happy to hang around the sidelines are not worth having.
Celtic are not in the English Premier League market.
It’s fine for clubs who pocket £95million for finishing last to have four strikers all on 50 grand a week but Brendan doesn’t have that luxury.
Some people will say, ‘Why not bring in a veteran striker, a guy who would accept not playing every week?’Give me a name then. The game has changed. There are strikers on the bench in England getting £60,000 per week.
Anyone who thinks that level of striker is going to pitch up at Parkhead on the cheap is living in fantasy land.
There is the argument he could go and recruit a backup along the lines of a Louis Moult or a Liam Boyce.
I take the point but players like that are in their prime and need to be playing.
They might get a wage rise but would they be willing to come knowing they’d be getting two or three games a season? I doubt it.
Not only that, they would get little game time and then be expected to hit the ground
You’re not going to get a top-quality front player