Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou insists Tom Rogic’s injury blow has underlined his need to bolster his midfield resources in January.
But the boss has been boosted with James Forrest ready to make a comeback to quickly help offset the Aussie’s playmaker’s absence.
Postecoglou will be without Rogic until after next month’s international break after he sustained a hamstring issue during the midweek win over Hibs.
The Socceroos star has been outstanding in recent weeks and his estimated three-week absence is a setback for the manager.
Postecoglou is adamant he has the immediate options to cover the short-term loss of his playmaker.
But, looking deeper into the campaign, Postecoglou is looking to add to Rogic’s area of the pitch as he continues to build his squad.
The Celtic boss said: “We got Tommy’s hamstring scanned and it looks like he will be out for around three weeks.
“Hopefully, the rehab goes well. If it does, then he will be ready for the resumption after the international break.
“We have the semi-final when we return, so it would be ideal if he could be back for that.
“We will have a look at it and we do have some options. I don’t think there is any need to change our set-up at all.
“Cal [ McGregor ] has played there before, Jota has the capabilities and we have a couple more options.
“Short-term, I think we can find solutions there.
“Long-term, I think it’s an area of the park where we probably need reinforcements and, hopefully, we can do that in January.”
Postecoglou is trying to take some positives out of the unfortunate Rogic situation and added: “The flip side is that he’s played a lot of football this season already, more than he has in recent years.
“He has been good for us and, while we don’t want him to get injured, it’s probably not a bad thing that he has a rest.
“Tommy and David Turnbull have carried a lot of the workload in the midfield.
“Cal had a spell out with injury and missed a bit, so this might help freshen Tommy up for the next part of the season.
“But, of course, it’s disappointing as he was outstanding against Hibs and has been great all season.”
Forrest is back in contention for today’s game against Livingston, where a victory will take Celtic to the top of the Premiership.
The Scotland winger has been missing since mid-August through injury, but Postecoglou revealed: “James has trained well this week and is available for Livingston, but I need to decide whether to include him or not.
“If not, then he will definitely be involved on Thursday. It’s good to have him back.”
Postecoglou has also issued a fitness bulletin on defender Christopher Jullien, who has been out for 10 months with a serious knee problem.
He said: “We were always going to take our time with Chris.
“Getting a game for him would be good, but it’s a bit difficult with no reserve football.
“As he edges closer to a return, I am hoping we will have a few others in the same boat who need games and we can arrange some of those sort of bounce games.”
Meanwhile, Postecoglou backed the introduction of VAR in Scotland as he believes the big decisions will be called correctly.
The Aussie said: “In terms of VAR, I’ve had exposure to it. Australia. In Japan. I think I’ve already gone on record, it is inevitable, it’s going to happen. It will happen everywhere.
“When it comes in you embrace it, you understand there will still be some issues because that’s been consistent worldwide.
“But, ultimately if it gets the big decisions right, the majority of the big decisions, I think it’s a positive.”
