Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou hailed the defensive partnership of Moritz Jenz and Stephen Welsh who continued to fill in in the absence of first-choice centre-halves Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt.
Welsh and Jenz first started together when a much-rotted Celtic won 4-1 in the Premier Sports Cup at Ross County a month ago, and were again used as a duo with Carter-Vickers and Starfelt injured in the 2-0 defeat to St Mirren in Paisley, and in yesterday’s 2-1 win over Motherwell.
Both have come under scrutiny for their involvement in St Mirren’s second goal, but the manager was quick to defend his third and fourth halves as a choice center given the circumstances of their partnership in constant evolution.
As reported by STV News, he said, “They did well, they did well. They didn’t have to do too much defense. They have been out several times which is good. It’s tough because last year Carl and Cam were mainstays, neither of them got really hurt.
“I’ve always thought that centre-back pairs are really important in terms of understanding each other, in terms of knowing each other’s movements, what kind of idiosyncrasies they have.
“When you put one on, it’s much easier to adjust. But for Welshy and Mo, who have only been with us for a few months as our new defensive duo, it’s not easy.
“Especially with the way we play, because they have a lot of the ball, we are very aggressive with our defense, they have to do a lot of one-on-one defense and coverage at the same time, so it’s not not easy but I think every game they play they will understand each other better which I think will help us.
“You can have as strong a team as you can get, but from my experience in football you will get hit in the same area every now and then and you will understand why you need four centre-halves. Even then you think ‘well, have we had enough?’ But you can only have a limited number of players.
“But they were better and I’m sure they’ll gain confidence from there.”
Postecoglou was coy about Carter-Vickers’ potential involvement with Leipzig on Wednesday, stressing he didn’t want to sack the defender immediately and risk losing him again, a la Carl Starfelt, who remains injured after the Glasgow Derby on last month.
He said: “He’s not far off but we still have 12 games in 40 days so I’m not going to put him on unless he’s absolutely right.
“It would be stupid of us to put him in and then lose him for a few more games, especially with Carl out for at least a few weeks.”
Carter-Vickers’ return to the squad would be a huge boost for Celtic ahead of a mammoth six weeks into their season, with their Champions League group stage campaign set to end next month.
While Jenz and Welsh certainly have their individual strengths, it’s clear Carter-Vickers and Starfelt are the first-choice pair, and even having just one available would be hugely beneficial to Celtic’s hopes of advancing to the knockout stages. direct.
Regardless of who makes the squad, it will be a huge task for the Hoops in Germany on Wednesday, where even a point would put them in an enviable position to qualify for Group F.
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