Sam Johnstone was named in the starting XI once again for Celtic’s showdown with Hibernian on Sunday.

It wasn’t so long ago that Johnstone had been flung back onto the bench after his woeful performance during Celtic’s defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

But in recent matches, Johnstone has returned, and Martin O’Neill explained it’s due to rotation because Celtic have ‘a big run of games’ coming up.

Here you have O’Neill rotating his keepers because of workload and a heavy schedule, but not his tiring, one-paced midfield, which includes Callum McGregor.

Why did Sam Johnstone start for Celtic against Hibernian?

Don’t get it twisted, Johnstone hasn’t done much wrong since coming back into the XI, and he produced a strong display for Celtic’s win over Hibernian.

But the Hoops have had trouble in between the sticks this term, and Viljami Sinisalo didn’t do much wrong to get dropped for the second time this season.

But rotating your goalkeepers because you have a lot of games coming up is pretty odd. That’s not the norm, and O’Neill doesn’t want this to come back to bite him.

Celtic need consistency in between the sticks, not the manager rotating players when it’s not needed, because it needs to be clear as day as to who is the number one, and this isn’t the case here.

“I just want Sam Johnstone to get used to conditions up here,” O’Neill told Sky Sports. “He has been out of the scene for a while. He has come into the side.

“I have two very, very fine goalkeepers. We have got a big, big run of games. Essentially, if we are rotating some of the players in the outfield, you might do exactly the same infield.”

But Callum McGregor continues to play…

So, Celtic need to rotate their goalkeepers, but not a midfield that is struggling without the ball?

On Thursday, Celtic were beaten by Celta Vigo in the Europa League, and O’Neill only took off Mika Baur with ten minutes left.

Benjamin Nygren and McGregor, who don’t exactly have the legs without the ball, played the entire match, as the Hoops struggled and were overrun in midfield in the second half.

The same happened against Hibs. All three midfielders played 90 minutes, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sat on the bench and Joel van den Berg is nowhere to be seen.

Celtic struggled in the second half. It was a tiring performance. Change and refreshment was needed, yet no rotation in midfield, but let’s keep changing the keepers. Make it make sense!