Tony Mowbray shuffles his pack in Vienna

Published on Wednesday 16 December 2009 22:14

TONY Mowbray has denied he could have done without tonight's meaningless Europa League game against Rapid Vienna at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

Neither side can qualify from Group C and consequently the Celtic manager plans to rest some players ahead of Sunday's SPL trip to Hearts. Mowbray, speaking at Austria's national stadium before his players went out to train in freezing conditions, rebuffed the suggestion he would gladly have foregone the interruption.

He said: "No, no. It's the next game. We have to respect the tournament we are playing in. We are here to give a good account of ourselves, to try and win the game and keep the confidence going into Sunday.

"I have picked the team in my mind. I know what the starting team will be unless there is an injury in training. And, if we do decide to go down that route (resting players), we expect a professional performance from the team.

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"We are here to win the football match, to be positive and we are looking forward to it. There will be a decent crowd at the stadium, I hear, with a great atmosphere, and it will be a test for the players, but one we are looking forward to.

"If one or two of them get a chance they are not playing for their futures, they are trying to put themselves to the forefront of my mind for when I pick my next team."

Mowbray insisted a "strange" group may well have ended in different circumstances if only one of the several chances missed in November's goalless draw against Hamburg in Germany had been taken.

"It has been a strange one when you analyse all the results in the section," the former West Brom manager said.

"Rapid beat Hamburg 3-0 on the opening day and then lost their last home game 3-0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv.

"So it's been a strange set of results throughout the group. We think every game we have played in has been very tight.

"As the section unfolded we always thought we had the opportunities to pick up the points but ultimately we left it too late.

"It has been the situation where we have missed opportunities to pick up points.

"A goal out of one of the three or four clear-cut chances we had in Hamburg and we would have been sitting here hoping to qualify out of the group. But it wasn't to be and the results are in front of us.

"So we finish off the group tomorrow night and then get on with our season."

Celtic midfielder Niall McGinn believes a positive result is crucial in order to help keep the club's form going.

Neither club can qualify from Group C and, consequently, the former Derry City player is one of the fringe players who is likely to be given a chance to impress Mowbray.

With Celtic's win at Motherwell on Saturday extending their winning run to four games for the first time this season, McGinn knows defeat could provide a setback ahead of Sunday's league clash with Hearts at Tynecastle. "There is a good buzz about the squad and over the last three or four weeks we have been doing well," the Northern Ireland international said.

"I feel it has been coming. It is all starting to gell together now and I think we could have scored three or four goals in most of the recent games which is good.

"Everyone is pushing in the same direction so it is very important to get a result in Vienna, before a tough game at Hearts on Sunday. With a bit of luck, myself and a few others will get the chance to play and it is a chance we are relishing. If I do get an opportunity, I will do my best to try and get in to the manager's thoughts."

Rapid Vienna are without former Aberdeen defensive midfielder Markus Heikkinen, while first-choice goalkeeper Helge Payer is doubtful after sustaining an injury in training.