Carter Vickers would be a morale booster, but not much else. Celtic were right to leave him behind.

Last night the news that Cameron Carter-Vickers did not travel with Celtic to Bergamo shocked some fans and sparked the usual speculation about how it would affect us. But to be honest, I think the overall effect will be minimal. I don’t believe Carter-Vickers’ presence would have made a drastic difference to the outcome, and I don’t think his absence would have either.

Let’s look at what the best case scenario could have been if Carter-Vickers had taken the trip and hit the road. The reality is that he would not be fully prepared for a match of this magnitude. He was out for several weeks and only recently returned to training.

There was no best scenario where he would be 100% ready for this game, no matter what some might have hoped for.

It’s definitely a big blow to lose him and Greg Taylor in the same game. Yes, it’s a concern, but if the alternative was to play a half-prepared Carter-Vickers, I’d prefer him to sit out this match. There is no advantage to fielding a player who is not sharp enough, especially when we have other centre-backs ready for the match.

This match will not depend only on personnel.

Strategy is really important here. I don’t believe a half-fit Carter-Vickers trying to chase forwards exploiting acres of space would have helped us. The key is to install it in such a way that it leaves no such space at all. If we succeed, we have a chance to get something out of the match. If we don’t do that, if we give Atalanta the same space that Dortmund and Aberdeen had, we will have problems, no matter who plays.

I’ve been saying for over a year now that relying too much on Carter-Vickers is a dangerous game. In my opinion, these types of injuries happened too often and are the main reason he was not targeted for a big-money move to England.

We need to move away from the idea of ​​being overly reliant on one player at the back. If that means we have to spend more money in January, so be it.

Don’t get me wrong: I love Carter-Vickers. When fit, he has been Scotland’s best centre-back by a mile since his debut. But injuries have taken him out of the game at critical moments, and no matter how good a player he is, they are of no use to us in the stands. We need to start addressing this problem head on because it’s facing us.

At first glance, the manager had to make a difficult decision, but in fact it was the only decision he could make. We have a busy schedule ahead of us and, as we have said from the beginning, the home matches in this tournament are the ones that really matter. Any risk we take now with Carter-Vickers or any other semi-prepared player will put these matches – and our progress in this competition – at risk. So while some may find this decision controversial, I don’t think so.

Rogers would be hurt. He would have liked to have both Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor on the team, and if not for both, he would have been desperate to get one of them back on the team, but that was the hand he was dealt. It would have been unnecessary to risk Carter-Vickers, and he did the right thing.

There should be no doubt about this decision.

If the game doesn’t go our way, there will be plenty to criticize Rodgers for, but this won’t be one of them. He got this call absolutely right.