CELTIC have lost the services of THREE strikers in the space of SEVEN days – leaving Ange Postecoglou with a challenge.
Odsonne Edouard moved to Crystal Palace on deadline day at the same time as Leigh Griffiths agreed a season-long loan at Dundee.
Postecoglou’s plans to give Kyogo Furuhashi, with seven goals from eight starts, the main role at the spearhead of the attack have been scuppered for the rest of the month after the £4.6million fans’ favourite was injured in Japan’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over China on Tuesday.
Now the Greek-Australian will look at his resources as he prepares for this afternoon’s Premiership encounter against Ross County at Parkhead.
Postecoglou said: “It provides opportunities for others now.
“I feel confident we’ll still be able to be the kind of team which can be a threat going forward.”
Albian Ajeti, who has claimed the meagre total of six goals following his £5million arrival from West Ham more than a year ago, could be given the nod ahead of new £2.5million Greek arrival Giorgos Giakoumakis, a deadline-day arrival.
Reflecting on squad training during the international break, Postecoglou said: “Giorgos is a little bit further behind.
“He didn’t really do a pre-season with his club, so we’ll probably be a bit more conservative with him.”
Portuguese winger Filipe Jota, who arrived on a season-long loan from Benfica, could be pressed into a more central role if Ajeti is overlooked.
Postecoglou hinted Jota and other recent signings Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales could all feature against Malky Mackay’s men.
The Greek-Australian continued: “We’ve really only had one session together because most of the internationals got back on Thursday.
“Cameron, Jota, Liam and Giorgos have all settled in well.
“It’s been good that the players have had a couple of weeks training with us because, with some of the other guys, they literally had one session before we threw them in.
“From our point of view, they’ve had a chance to settle themselves off the field as well, so it’s been helpful to have these 10 days together.”
Kyogo is poised for a seven-game enforced lay-off, as CQN reported during the week, and Postecoglou, speaking to the Scottish Sun, added: “For us, it’s a challenge because he’s started the season so well.
“It’s disappointing for Kyogo as much as us as a club because he’s got off to such a great start in his career. We were just looking forward to him continuing that and building on that momentum.
“But we’ve obviously now had to hit the pause button on it.
“The initial diagnosis is probably three to four weeks, but that will depend on how quickly he heals.
“He feels pretty good about it. He doesn’t think it will keep him out for long. We’ll assess it as we go along.”
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