Ange Postecoglou has revealed that the surface at Rugby Park rather than an injury was the reason for Jota’s non-appearance today.
When the Celtic side was announced at 10.45am this morning the Portuguese winger and Cameron Carter-Vickers were the most notable absentees.
The former Spurs defender missed out on a call up to the USA squad last month and appears to be managing a knock but Jota’s absence wasn’t anticipated.
Picking up on his pre-match interview with Sky Sports, The Sun reports Postecoglou saying:
There are a couple of boys who this pitch probably doesn’t do a great deal for, so we decided to leave them out.
We also decided to bring some fresh legs in – Tomoki, Haksa and Yuki have all been working hard in training. We need some energy today and hopefully those three can bring it for us.
Aaron Mooy was the third change from last week’s side but came off the bench during the second half of today’s 4-1 victory.
With Liel Abada and James Forrest already missing the loss of Jota reduced Postecoglou’s winger options down to two with Rocco Vata as back-up.
It seems like Jota was left out as a precaution against injury today, any more knocks with a fortnight to go before the Scottish Cup semi-final would have put a real strain on the squad.
On Saturday Celtic host Motherwell knowing that a win will put them 15 points ahead of Micky Beale’s side who face Aberdeen the following day.