de Vries, defending corners, lessons from Darnell

With Logan Bailly out injured, Celtic are down to two keepers, Craig Gordon (33) and Leo Fasan (22).  That’s insufficient for the months ahead, which will see the club play eight European games, the visit of our perennial league rivals, Aberdeen later this month, as well as seeing the League Cup come to a conclusion.

So the reasoning behind Dorus de Vries (35) pitching up for a medial at Ross Hall this morning is clear.  What remains to be seen, is whether Brendan Rodgers reckons the Dutchman, whom he won promotion with at Swansea, is a safer pair of hands than Craig Gordon.

de Vries won Notting Forest supporters’ Player of the Year last season, a significant accolade for a keeper, so Stevie Woods can look forward to working with a genuine contender for first choice.

As we witnessed even against an outclassed Motherwell on Wednesday, defending corner kicks remains a problem for Celtic, which will again cost us dearly in Europe if the issue is not resolved.  How Dorus matches up in this area may well determine who gets the nod.

A word on Darnell Fisher.  He has the talent to perform more than adequately for Alan Stubbs at Rotherham, but he was judged not to have sufficient enthusiasm for getting back to do his day job, after venturing forward to assist attacks, which finished him at Celtic.

In this respect he didn’t fit the Ronny model, but the next generation of young full backs have come through having learned a lesson.