John Kennedy explains the benefits of the international break that Celtic fans could soon see.
John Kennedy has been speaking about the benefits of this international break on the Celtic squad.
The Hoops assistant manager is one of those left at Lennoxtown during the break from club football. While many of our first-team stars jet around the world to play for their countries, others are left back in Scotland.
While Celtic do usually give those players a few days away from training, they will have been back in for the majority of the break and gearing up for what’s next.
And, as Kennedy explains, the break can have a positive impact on all types of players.
“It’s been a good week for us in terms of getting some players on the pitch again, getting them training, working on their fitness,” he said on the Official Celtic FC Podcast.
“It’s also a time that the guys who have played a lot of games, we can kind of de-load them a bit. So it gives us a chance to level everything off.
The guys who needed a bit of a rest we’ll give them that, the guys who need to work, we get plenty of work in them this week.
Then it’s back to business again. It’s going to be a busy month through October and November.
“It’s been a steady progression for us so far this season in terms of getting everyone back together, getting used to a new manager.
The players have got to know him and I think game on game you can see the players are improving and the performances are going in the right direction.”
“Levelling everything off” is a good way to put the international break. A number of our heavily used players will hopefully be a bit fresher after a quieter fortnight.
Meanwhile, the break will have given some of our lesser-used stars a chance to up their efforts.
While it’s not clear exactly who Kennedy is talking about, you would assume someone like Marco Tilio would have benefitted from some extra time on the training pitch.
Hyeokkyu Kwon, Odin Thiago Holm and Yuki Kobayashi are perhaps some others who may be in a better state now than prior to the break.
It could be that we see someone like Tilio on the pitch much sooner as a result of the break. That would be a benefit for the Celtic support to see with their own eyes, while our biggest performers being fresh would also be good news.
The big issue for these fringe guys will be finding a way to force themselves into Brendan Rodgers’ starting line-up. It will be interesting to see if anyone can over the coming month.