TONY Mowbray is expecting a "professional performance" from the fringe players he will use in tonight's meaningless Europa League game against Rapid Vienna.
With neither club able to qualify from Group C, the Hoops boss plans to rest some players ahead of Sunday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League trip to Hearts.
The 700 or so Celtic fans who will make their way to the Ernst Happel Stadium, which will be close to its 50,000-capacity, could see players like Mark Wilson, Chris Killen and Paul Caddis make rare appearances with others like Stephen McManus, Niall McGinn and Marc-Antoine Fortune, who have mostly been on the bench in recent weeks, also starting.
Celtic, though, have won their last four games and Mowbray is looking for standards to be maintained.
"I have picked the team in my mind," he said.
"And, if we do decide to go down that route (resting players), we expect a professional performance from the team.
"We are here to win the football match, to be positive.
"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.
"I have always said that some players want to play every week but they don't so they become a little bit unhappy to the point of wanting to know what their futures are at the club.
"The bottom line is I have total respect for all the players at the club but I have to pick a team every week to try and win a football match.
"If they don't get selected most weeks they have to work hard, keep their head down and wait on the opportunity.
"And if they get an opportunity tonight they are playing to try and keep themselves in the forefront of my mind when I pick the next team."
While Mowbray bemoaned what might have been in the Europa League campaign if his side had picked up even a couple of more points, the Rapid camp also looked back with regret especially given that they got off to a flying start with a 3-0 home win over Hamburg.
Rapid are bottom of the group on four points, one behind Celtic and defender Markus Katzer is keen to leapfrog the Parkhead men on the final game.
"It's the last European game of the season for us and we want to finish third in the group," he said.
"We want to win this game to give the fans something to take in to the winter break.
"We started well against Hamburg then drew against Celtic, so we had four points from two games but the key games were the two games against Hapoel Tel Aviv and we lost them.
"We couldn't really expect to get three points at Hamburg in our last game so it was the two games against Hapoel which were important and we have had to bite the bullet."
The 700 or so Celtic fans who will make their way to the Ernst Happel Stadium, which will be close to its 50,000-capacity, could see players like Mark Wilson, Chris Killen and Paul Caddis make rare appearances with others like Stephen McManus, Niall McGinn and Marc-Antoine Fortune, who have mostly been on the bench in recent weeks, also starting.
Celtic, though, have won their last four games and Mowbray is looking for standards to be maintained.
"I have picked the team in my mind," he said.
"And, if we do decide to go down that route (resting players), we expect a professional performance from the team.
"We are here to win the football match, to be positive.
"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.
"I have always said that some players want to play every week but they don't so they become a little bit unhappy to the point of wanting to know what their futures are at the club.
"The bottom line is I have total respect for all the players at the club but I have to pick a team every week to try and win a football match.
"If they don't get selected most weeks they have to work hard, keep their head down and wait on the opportunity.
"And if they get an opportunity tonight they are playing to try and keep themselves in the forefront of my mind when I pick the next team."
While Mowbray bemoaned what might have been in the Europa League campaign if his side had picked up even a couple of more points, the Rapid camp also looked back with regret especially given that they got off to a flying start with a 3-0 home win over Hamburg.
Rapid are bottom of the group on four points, one behind Celtic and defender Markus Katzer is keen to leapfrog the Parkhead men on the final game.
"It's the last European game of the season for us and we want to finish third in the group," he said.
"We want to win this game to give the fans something to take in to the winter break.
"We started well against Hamburg then drew against Celtic, so we had four points from two games but the key games were the two games against Hapoel Tel Aviv and we lost them.
"We couldn't really expect to get three points at Hamburg in our last game so it was the two games against Hapoel which were important and we have had to bite the bullet."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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