Ringing The Changes

6 personnel changes at Kilmarnock and another disappointing display. Rodger’s stated on Tuesday that changes may not be helping team stability. Is he right?

Making changes when playing over 60 matches in 4 (or 5!) competitions when competing continuously from July to May surely makes sense. Players need to recharge and get over niggles. Changes are enforced through injury and suspension. But how much change is too much?

Since Celtic By Numbers began, here are the matches where the management made 5 or more changes to the starting XI:

There are some thumping wins for sure. But there were also some incredibly laboured wins in there – Raith Rovers, Alloa Athletic, Dundee, Partick Thistle, Hamilton Academical.

Here is the overall points % comparison between games where 5 or more changes were made, and those where less than 5 changes were made.

Rodgers seems finally to arrive at the right answer. Celtic are 16% less effective when making 5 or more changes.

No gonnae dae that!