Mikael Lustig may have been a great mainstay for Celtic in the last five years, but the Sweden international performances recently have been terribly poor that Rodgers must axe him for the game against Aberdeen this afternoon.
The clash against Aberdeen turned into a must-win for Celtic following Rangers 2-0 victory over Hearts, which has saw our leading gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to six points.
Therefore, Rodgers has to field his best team available to play against strong Derek McInnes’ side, which mean there should be no place for Lustig, and he instead the Norther Irish boss should replace him with teenage sensation Anthony Ralston.
The latter looked poor in the 3-0 defeat to Zenit on Thursday night at Russia, and was directly responsible for the third goal which killed of the club’s hopes.
Ralston, 19, who has only just returned from a long-term injury, would be the best option in a must-win league game against Aberdeen, after all, the 19-year-old started against the multimillionaires of PSG in the Champions League group stage earlier this season, having a memorable exchange with £198million-rated Neymar.
The Hoops need to go out and send a message to both Rangers and Aberdeen – who could also close to within six points of the top of the table with a win – and they need to pick players who will be able to thrive in the game.
At this moment in time, Lusitg just isn’t that player, and Ralston is.