Odsonne Edouard is out of tonight’s team.
Out entirely. He doesn’t even make the bench. The thigh injury Lennon spoke about the other day has ruled him out completely.
Ryan Christie starts upfront. A shock in itself, but a scandal in that this information was doing the rounds hours ago. Hours ago, folks, and when the Rumour Guy was doing his piece earlier he mentioned it for that very reason.
This has become a serious issue.
A crucial team decision has leaked out of Lennoxtown well in advance of the game, and it’s one that will have given our opponents heart.
If they knew about it when some of us did – and let’s face it, it’s been out there on social media – they’d have had plenty of time to prepare.
The manager will have serious questions to answer as to why none of our two fit strikers – who cost us a combined £8 million plus – are benched to play a midfielder up front. That decision will be the subject of much scrutiny if it doesn’t pay dividends.
To me it’s a ridiculous decision and demonstrates a complete lack of faith in Klimala in particular. I understand that Ajeti still has work to do on his fitness, but the Polish striker would have expected to start with no other fit forwards.
All his hard work over the summer has been rewarded with this?
Christie is a fine finisher, but he’s never a striker in his life.
This would be bad enough if the decision had been dropped on us all from a great height, but many of us had hours to puzzle over it and stew at the same time.
Lennon does things on occasion that are absolutely inexplicable.
He was solely responsible for the disaster against Cluj last year when a similarly experimental line-up went as disastrously wrong as it was predictable, and there’s no other way to see this than as a massive, and un-necessary, gamble with a fortune in qualification cash.
He better hope that it comes off or he will carry the can for it.
In the meantime, those in authority at Celtic Park need to be conducting a mole hunt and the person who think he or she looking like a smart-arse takes precedence over the good of our club needs to be found and removed from the place.
CELTIC: Barkas; Jullien, Taylor, Brown, Christie, Ntcham, Elyounoussi, Ajer, McGregor, Elhamed, Forrest
Subs: Bain, Bitton, Ajeti, Klimala, Soro, Frimpong, Harper
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