Neil Lennon aims to change - but not Celtic's winning habit as Scottish champions target 10th successive trophy

On the face of it, Celtic’s Betfred Scottish League Cup quarter-final tie at home to Partick Thistle on Wednesday should amount to little more than a stroll, all the more so given the turmoil enveloping the Scottish Championship side, whose manager, Gary Caldwell, was sacked last week.

Celtic are aiming for a 10th successive trophy win, but Neil Lennon never laid hands on this piece of silverware during his first spell in charge at Celtic or during his time with Hibs.

"I did as a player but not as manager," he said. Although he will use the tie to give game time to fringe squad candidates, Lennon has learned superiority is not guaranteed against lower division opposition, especially if the crowd is sparse, as it is likely to be on Wednesday and as it was on Sept 24, 2013, when Greenock Morton were the visitors.

"We had a good team out and peppered the goal but ended up losing 1-0," he said. "And then you ask yourself, ‘Did I make too many changes?’ But I look at that team and we had seven internationals playing, including Virgil van Dijk and Teemu Pukki.

"Maybe there is a little bit of a hex over me with the competition. We’ll see. I certainly hope not.

"We’ve got to look at it and obviously make sure we don’t overcook it. It might be an opportunity to give some players who haven’t played that much game time, with other games coming up.

"You need to give them some match rhythm but you don’t want to make too many changes because some of the players are in very good form. It might be an opportunity for other players to get valuable game time, with the carrot that if you win it there is an opportunity to get to a semi-final."

Moreover, although Celtic have bigger fish to fry, both in domestic  competition and in the Europa League – where they made a good start to their group campaign with a 1-1 draw in Rennes on Thursday – Lennon, his players and the Celtic support do not want the momentum of three clean sweeps of the Scottish honours to falter against Partick Thistle.

"No, you don’t, so it is about trying to get the balance right," Lennon said. "We are at home. We had a difficult game in the last round, against Dunfermline, off the back of losing to Cluj in Europe, so the mentality was a little bit different then. We go into this game wanting to win the competition so we’ll put out a strong team.

"We know that, if we win, we will be a game away from a final and that will be a huge incentive for the squad because it’s a cup that the players want to defend as vigorously as possible."

Although the three whitewash seasons were largely the province of Brendan Rodgers, Lennon secured the Scottish Cup victory that completed the set when Celtic beat Hearts at Hampden Park in May.

"It was important and the treble treble was so talked about and so vaunted by the supporters so that was a big monkey off my back, if you want to call it that," Lennon said.

"The relief at the end of the game was palpable but the joy as well … I hadn’t felt like that for a long,  long time."

Elsewhere on Wednesday, teams who could transform their fortunes with a win and a place in the semi-finals include Hearts – currently bottom of the Scottish Premiership – who are at home to Aberdeen, and Hibernian, who meet Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Rangers are away to Livingston where Steven Gerrard will again rotate his squad, with the opportunity to give a break to the likes of Ryan Jack, who had to withdraw from the Scotland squad between the recent Euro 2020 fixtures against Russia and Belgium because of a swollen knee, aggravated by an 11-kilometre run two days after the midfielder played in the first Old Firm game of the season at Ibrox.

Gerrard accused the Scotland management of being "careless" with the player, but Jack has consigned the controversy to the past. "It’s all forgotten about now, to be honest," he said.

"Our manager was saying what he thought. I just try to stay out of it because, as a player, you do what you’re asked. There’s no issue. It was just unfortunate for me, the timing of it and the way it happened.

"I’m fine and fit. It actually happened before the Russia game but I wanted to stay and be part of it. As the week went there was no improvement and I wanted to come back and get it checked. Thankfully, it’s nothing serious, so we move on."