Celtic have a chance to immediately bounce back from their heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund as they prepare to travel to face Ross County away from Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership.
The Hoops return to domestic action on Sunday in the last game before the international break and will be hoping to continue their perfect start to the season, with six wins and zero goals conceded in six matches so far.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have been largely flawless in the top-flight and won all of their opening nine matches, domestically and in Europe, before Tuesday night’s clash with Dortmund.
The Scottish giants were left humbled by Nuri Sahin’s men as they found themselves 5-1 down at half-time and lost the match 7-1 on the night in Germany.
Daizen Maeda had equalised in the first half, to make it 1-1, but Celtic did not kick on from that moment and were easily and heavily beaten by Dortmund, thanks in part to a hat-trick from Karim Adeyemi.
After shipping five goals in one half and seven goals in one game, Rodgers could look to make alterations to his defensive set-up – including at centre-back with Cameron Carter-Vickers missing through injury.
Celtic's Carter-Vickers blow
The USA international is currently dealing with a toe injury and missed the games against St Johnstone and Dortmund in the last seven days.
Carter-Vickers’ absence is a blow for the Hoops because he is a proven centre-back who has consistently shown that he can deliver on the pitch in the Premiership.
He has been named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year in each of his three full seasons with the Scottish giants and will be hoping to make it four in four this year.
The former Tottenham Hotspur defender started the first five games of the current league campaign and helped his team to keep five clean sheets in that time, winning 71% of his duels.
Carter-Vickers played 25 times in the Premiership during the 2023/24 season and dominated opposition attackers with a duel success rate of 68%. He also completed 91% of his attempted passes and was reliable in possession for Ange Postecoglou.
The 26-year-old colossus also showcased his quality in the Champions League in the convincing 5-1 win over Slovakian side Slovan last month at Parkhead.
Minutes played
85
Duels won
4/5
Pass accuracy
95%
Touches
115
Tackles won
4
As you can see in the table above, Carter-Vickers was dominant defensively, winning four of his five duels, and kept things simple in possession to build attacks for his team, completing 95% of his attempted passes.
The Hoops missed his defensive strength, recovery pace, and decision-making on the ball in the disappointing defeat to Dortmund, as Auston Trusty struggled badly in his place.
Auston Trusty's performance against Dortmund
The summer signing from Sheffield United was selected on the right side of the centre-back pairing, next to Liam Scales, despite being a left-footed defender, and failed to showcase the best of his abilities.
His defending left a lot to be desired as Dortmund’s players found it far too easy to get past him through balls in behind the Celtic defence, with Adeyemi beating him easily for pace.
The Daily Record handed him a player rating of 4/10 for his performance at the back for Celtic and cited his lack of pace against the Dortmund forward as one of their reasons for such a low score.
Trusty did complete 97% of his attempted passes on the night and this may stick out on paper as an impressive statistic, but his passes were not progressive in nature.
Of his 62 attempted passes, the American defender only made one progressive pass and did not complete a single progressive carry to build attacks for his team. Whereas, Carter-Vickers completed four progressive passes and carries in the win over Slovan, four times as many as Trusty managed against Dortmund.
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As a naturally left-footed player, it was difficult for the centre-back to open up and progress the ball down the flank or centrally, as he wanted to come inside on his favoured foot, and Rodgers must now brutally ditch him from the XI to unleash Maik Nawrocki from the start.
Why Maik Nawrocki should start
The Polish central defender was an unused substitute against Dortmund as he watched his positional peers struggle badly against the Bundesliga giants.
Nawrocki is a unique player in the sense that he is comfortable playing out from the back with either foot and this means that Rodgers can unleash him on the right of the left side of the defence when needed, and it is the former that is needed this weekend against Ross County.
The rarely-seen titan has made one appearance, against Falkirk in the League Cup, in all competitions so far this season, but should now be given an opportunity to shine if Carter-Vickers is unavailable.
Nawrocki, who was hailed as “aggressive” by Rodgers last season, joined the Scottish giants on a permanent deal from Legia Warsaw in the summer of 2023 but has had to bide his time for a chance, as Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales have established themselves as the first-choice centre-back pairing.
However, the 23-year-old brute did show signs of promise in his performances when called upon by the Northern Irish head coach in the Premiership last term.
Appearances
10
Pass accuracy
88%
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.0
Duel success rate
57%
Ground duel success rate
69%
As you can see in the table above, the Polish ace made ten appearances in the top-flight, as Celtic won the league title, and dominated players in his physical duels – particularly on the ground.
He was also a reliable passer, completing 88% of his attempted passes. Unfortunately, the data is not available for progressive passes and carries in the Premiership, but Nawrocki did average 3.0 progressive carries and passes per 90 in the Europa League for Legia Warsaw during the 2021/22 campaign, which shows that he can progress play out from the back.
Rodgers must, now, ditch Trusty – after his poor display against Dortmund – and finally unleash the rarely-seen Nawrocki from the start to offer a natural balance to the team on the right side of the defence.
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