Celtic-Hibs reaction: Arne Engels due date, Greg Wallace praise, Rangers XI poser and the growing problem

What is Celtic’s team for next week?

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers rotated his squad yet again for the visit of Hibs, making five changes to the starting XI. Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi were all named on the bench, although the latter two came on. They are the spine of this Celtic team right now, so it was no surprise to see them rested ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb and then next weekend’s Premier Sports Cup final against Rangers at Hampden.

After some chopping and changing over the past few games, Rodgers will want to settle on his best team for the next two matches. The stakes are so high: Champions League progression and landing the first piece of domestic silverware against Old Firm rivals. The performance against Hibs may have given the Northern Irishman some food for thought.

Arne Engels and Luke McCowan started and while the Belgian scored (more on him later), neither man played especially well. Paulo Bernardo added zip when he was introduced and it may be the Portuguese who gets the nod alongside Hatate and Callum McGregor.

Carter-Vickers and Furuhashi will surely be restored ahead of Liam Scales and Adam Idah, while Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn are set to be wide forwards. Kasper Schmeichel, Auston Trusty and Alistair Johnston also have shirts in their hands. Left-back is perhaps the toughest call, with Greg Taylor battling with Alex Valle for that spot. Taylor, on experience, may just edge it.

Engels’ due date

Engels opened the scoring with a well-timed run early on against Hibs, but became a little subdued later in the match. The 21-year-old Belgian is not in the scintillating form of September, although given he is young and acclimatising to Scottish football, leeway ought to be given - even if he cost £11 million.

Rodgers certainly feels that way. “I think I won't even begin to judge Arne until this time next year,” the manager said. “You know, maybe once he's come in and had a year and settled into everything and seen how we play. Because it's complex. There's a lot of real technical ideas needed in the game. He's received the ball in lots of tight spaces.

“Before, in the team he played with [Augsburg], he was more running into space. But it was great for him to arrive because that's what we expect from Arne. It's to get in the box, to be close to scoring. But Arne gets into the areas that we want him to be and finished it really well.”

Unsung heroes

With Celtic scoring from a corner kick, Rodgers wanted to make sure a couple of backroom staff were namechecked, given that Joe Newell’s own goal came from a nice delivery from McCowan and a flick on from Idah. Analyst Greg Wallace and first-team coach Gavin Strachan were the recipients of such praise.

“I also give credit as well to Gavin Strachan and Greg Wallace,” said Rodgers. “They do a lot of work for us in the set-piece department. And this year, we've been much more dynamic. And obviously, the second goal comes from the set-piece We were dangerous in that side of a game.”

Serving up more of the same would go down nicely next week.

Hibs growing problem

Hibs head coach David Gray does not have his troubles to seek. His team played well at Celtic Park but they slipped back to the bottom of the Premiership table after Saturday’s fixtures. They have only won twice in the league all season.

Individual errors at the back and indiscipline with red cards have rightly been to blame. But there is another problem at the top end of the pitch that Hibs need to solve fast. They do not have a No 9 who scores goals regularly and can be relied upon to take chances. This Hibs team certainly creates openings - they had 14 shots, nine on target, at Celtic Park - so that is not a problem. It was the conversion of them.

Mykola Kuharevich is Gray’s preferred man up to but that status is surely under threat after Saturday. The on-loan Swansea forward missed not one, but two glaring one-on-ones with Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel. Yes, the Dane did well to save them, but he really ought to not have stood a chance.

Kuharevich has scored four goals all season, three of which have been bundled in from six yards out or less. Since missing a penalty at Ibrox against Rangers, his form has dipped. Confidence now must be low, as for all the good work he does in occupying defenders and making good runs, he misses too many chances.

With Kieron Bowie out until the middle of next month and veteran Dwight Gayle not deemed superior (yet) to Kuharevich, Gray needs to solve this problem for the rest of December. Elie Youan and Martin Boyle can play through the middle, yet most of their best work is done is out wide - and neither have been in great form this term.

A striker is almost certainly on the January shopping list - but there are four matches before then (Ross County, Aberdeen, Hearts and Kilmarnock). Somebody needs to step up to the plate.