Celtic Hampden injury worry for Giorgos Giakoumakis and Kyogo starting berth doubt

Ange Postecoglou saw Giorgos Giakoumakis limp out of Celtic’s dominant win over St Johnstone, casting doubt over his Scottish Cup semi-final prospects against Rangers next week, but says his squad is at its’ healthiest all season after a resounding win over St Johnstone.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s long-awaited comeback was a highlight, but Postecoglou praised his entire team through to those used off the bench or not involved at all, after the rout which boosted his side’s goal difference advantage even further.

Hampden may come too early to start the Japanese international, and Celtic will now await further analysis of Giakoumakis’ injury – but Postecoglou says his squad is in a good place, regardless.

"He felt something in his hamstring,” Postecoglou explained of the Greek striker, who was substituted two minutes after scoring the second goal in the 7-0 win. “It’s one of those where we won’t know until we re-assess him. He has carried an enormous load for us the last few weeks and worked really hard, and I’m disappointed for him and hopefully it doesn’t keep him out of the run-in.”

Celtic's Giorgos Giakoumakis suffers an injury during a cinch Premiership match between Celtic and St Johnstone at Celtic Park, on April 09, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The manager did confirm though that Furuhashi would be involved more, but his return managed carefully. He resisted the temptation to make a direct swap in the first half but expects to be able to call upon the forward against Rangers.

“Whenever someone is out for a significant amount of time we have to be a bit more careful. I wouldn’t think we would be throwing him in, say next week if you are asking that. I doubt he’d be starting next week but if we can get him some more game-time in the next couple of weeks then in the last three or four games he’d be ready to start."

He went on: “We’ll have James Forrest hopefully back next week and the healthiest squad we’ve had all year – a really strong squad with a lot of contributors which means our training levels are at the best they’ve been all year.

“We’re getting some good weeks of training into the players because there are no midweek games and all that is in our favour to hopefully produce our best football – but doesn’t guarantee it. Players don’t roll out and today doesn’t just happen - they worked their socks off [against St Johnstone]. When we didn’t have the ball we were determined to get it back – all those things you need to do and then we have the quality in the team to blow teams away like we did.”

Celtic manager Giorgos Giakoumakis (L) speaks to manager Ange Postecoglou as he goes off with an injury during a cinch Premiership match between Celtic and St Johnstone at Celtic Park, on April 09, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Goals came right across the team with six different goalscorers and three from substitutes – Matt O’Riley scored a quick-fire double in the 70th and 71st minutes.

"It could’ve been a game we saw out comfortably but there’s a couple of things working there. One is the players consistently trying to push themselves to be the best they can be and also having quality coming off the bench wanting to make a contribution and it helps drive things as well. The group as a whole wanted to finish off their good work today and have a really good performance," Postecoglou added.

"The scoreline reflects our dominance and we were on it from the start. It was a danger game for us in terms of St Johnstone were in good form and are hard to break down so we had to start well. We did that and like a lot of games recently we got on top early, and today we finished off our work in the second half."

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