An injury to Stephane Henchoz, though, has handed the player an unlikely reprieve. A man of the match performance against Bolton in his preferred cenre-half role has given Traore a chance to prove his worth in what he describes as the biggest match of his fledgling career.
Traore said: "I'm glad the manager showed faith in me. When I played against Auxerre, I had a bad game. I know that. I didn't show my best form and I was disappointed.
"But after the game I could feel that I had a lot of support from the manager and my team-mates. Players like Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz and Jamie Carragher are always trying to help and give me advice."
"When I played against Bolton I wanted to show the people in Anfield I am a good player and I had put the game against Auxerre behind me.
"The way I played has given me a lot of confidence again. It's not always easy to go into a team as a replacement for a player as good as Stephane Henchoz. He is a great player. I just want to show the manager he can trust me when I play there.
"Celtic have many great strikers. The one who everyone talks about is Henrik Larsson, because he has scored so many goals for so many years. They also have Chris Sutton and John Hartson, all different types of players with different qualities.
"This is a very important match for us. I have played in some big games already for Liverpool, but if I'm involved tonight I think this will be the biggest I've been involved in so far."