Neil Lennon

I can see both arguments.

The outside centre backs need to defend in wide areas quite often, so ideally they should be pacey. Jullien and Duffy don't strike me as being entirely comfortable playing those roles. Whereas Ajer is perfect for the RCB slot.

 

Because having only 3 while playing a back 3 leaves no room for injury or off form play. Same reason we needed more even when playing just the 2 CBs and why Ajer was unfortunately played through bad spells which only made it worse for him and done nothing for his overall development with no rest time.

During the MON era and the height of the back 3 we had Mjalby, Balde, Valgaeren as the main 3 with Larsen, Varga and even Kennedy as the youth prospect.

Today we have Ajer, Julien, Duffy (not even ours to keep yet) and Welshe as a youth prospect, that lets be honest we all know will see very little game time in this season - no matter how much we all want him to break in and get his chance, he simply wont.

Elhamed and Bitton are obviously able to help out if needed, but I'd rather have an actual CB as at least ONE other alternative to be able to change things up if we are struggling at the back, or just to give some competition.
Right now all 3 of Julien, Ajer and Duffy know their place is safe in the side. That is not a good thing at all.

 

Aye as seen by when he's played right back. Extremely comfortable on that side going forward..

I'd go

Ajer
Duffy
Jullien left for now as he's more comfortable on that side as he can play out with either foot..

 

I see Elhamed as more of a natural CB than Ajer. I’d be extremely disappointed if he is now regarded as a back up player just because we’re playing 3-5-2. He should be regarded as very strong competition for Ajer. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I actually think he’s a better defender than Ajer. My 3 would be Elhamed, Duffy, Julien.

 

Been harsh on lennon recently. Not today though, spot on. 2 strikers is the way to go. We were not at our bes but still walked away with 5 goals. Superb

 

The positive out of how we've looked defensively from middle back is when we do start firing, we'll blitz side's..

We're nowhere near at full pelt. I'd say we're about 50% at best and yet with 2 up, we're still frightening going forward..

When the keeper and settled defence get an understanding and the balance is right....we'll be unstoppable domestically..

When we add an explosive left sided player and get Mikey, Rogic, Griff etc back....we'll be even stronger as a squad..

Imagine us at a 100% when 7 or 8 are at it in the 3-5-2. Will be filth and I don't think it's too far away now..

 

Funny. But exactly why he doesn't need to be anywhere near social media.

 

Lenny leading us to the 10 is going to be a beautiful thing.

 

Lenny, Broony and Vol. Duffy partying at the end of the season will completely end the hun mutants.

 

I almost want us to sign mcclean for the party

 

The RWB options are Frimpong, Elhamed and Forrest. Class..

LWB options Taylor, Forrest and maybe an untried Connel..

Sort it Lenny.

 

If he was available in very favourable terms in January, I would probably be all for it just as a pure wind up.

 

Makes you wonder if he did what he did on the weekend against ferncvaros we wouldn't have been a mess in that game. Regular subs, 2 up front etc. Lessons learned too late.

 

Wee it worried Lenny giving it the if no more deals the happy with the squad quote.

Still think a wideman and lb/lwb are needed.

Not sure about a CB, it might be hard to keep them all happy, we'll get away with Bitton and El Hamed for me.

 

NL: "I’m looking for us to build on a very good result at the weekend, we are excited about the games coming up now."



NL on #STMCEL: "They’ve hard their troubles over the past week so I think it’s a question of Jim trying to refocus after what’s been a difficult week. We’ve always found it tough to play there, it’s a tight pitch."



NL on Hamilton: "First of all I hope the players involved at Hamilton are okay. It’s something we are going to have to live with. Thankfully for us we’ve had another round of testing but all negative. We are trying to do everything right but sometimes these things happen



NL on
@shaneduffy
: "I think this will be great move for Shane’s career. He had a great debut, and went better as the game went on. He can take a lot of confidence from that and should be delighted.

NL on Ajeti: "He’s come off the bench twice and scored. He scored from his starting position in the team. You can tell he’s not match fit but I’m delighted with the contribution so far and delighted about what he’s brought to the team and the dressing room."


NL on injuries: "Mikey [Johnston]’s rehabbing well. We’ll assess him day by day, maybe another 2/3 weeks away from training. Leigh [Griffiths] and Tom [Rogic] are back training but haven’t played or trained a lot so they won’t be in the squad for tomorrow."


NL: "It‘s one of our games in hand so we have to try maximise the opportunity and get the three points

 

Neil Lennon insists the whole of Scottish football must make contingency plans to cope with a second spike of Covid.


And the Celtic boss has admitted it would be “unpalatable” and “not good for the game” to have the virus wreck a second successive season.


Lennon’s team to face St Mirren on Wednesday in a game which was postponed a month ago due to a protocol breach by Boli Bolingoli.

Jim Goodwin ’s hosts were hit badly by the pandemic before their weekend encounter against Hibs losing THREE goalkeepers.


With Hamilton having three more employees test positive and cases on the rise across society, Scottish football is braced for more potentially damaging disruption.




Lennon says both authorities and clubs have to find ways to cope if it all possible if the upsurge continues.

He said: “It’s a worry. People are sometimes going to get this virus whether they are doing the right things or not, I think.



You just have to have contingency plans in place. I’m not saying St Mirren didn’t, but that’s totally out of the blue what happened to them. What happened to us was out of the blue.



Everyone is learning as we go along with this thing, whether it is football clubs, boards, associations or governments.

“Things can change all the time, whether that’s the virus itself or the conditions you live under and abide by.”



Last season was curtailed with two months to go due to the pandemic and, on the nightmare prospect of it happening again, the Celtic manager continued: “I don’t think that’s what anybody wants.

“To do it once probably wasn’t satisfactory to anyone. But for it to happen again would be unpalatable and not good for the game.

“You want to avoid it, but in my own view, we’ll probably get a second spike of this in society, because it seems to be the way these things pan out.

“We’re just going to have to try and live with it the best we can.

“People have got to try to get back to as normal a life as possible, even though things aren’t normal, without being reckless with it.”



St Mirren were forced to play the Hibs game despite the keeper shortage and their former chairman Stewart Gilmour insisted Celtic or Rangers would never have been put in the same situation.




But Lennon said: “It’s unprecedented, really. The chances of that happening are thousands to one.

“I’m not convinced that calling the game off would have been an ideal scenario either. But then I totally sympathise with Jim’s situation. It obviously had an affect on their result.”

Instead, Lennon focused on sending goodwill messages to those affected and continued: “First of all I am hoping the guys recover. We send our best wishes from Celtic.

“For me, players are young, fit and healthy enough to overcome this with isolation with the help in place and move on. Thankfully we have had plenty of testing and have all been negative.”

“If anyone should get it, then, hopefully, we will overcome it individually and move on and try and keep things on an even keel.”

Lennon also insists it is important to keep tabs on the mental wellbeing of players as they attempt to live their lives in club bubbles.



He said: “You are always looking for signs via their body language. In the main, touch wood, we’ve been fine with that.

“We are wary of the mental state of players and have chats with them individually and collectively.


They are human beings. A lot were away on international duty and found that difficult because they are away from home. When they came back we assessed them physically and mentally and they all seemed okay.

“We had another trip up the road [to Dingwall] at the weekend and the majority of them are in a good place physically and mentally.

“You have to take the human element into the equation. You can’t just say: Get on with it, you’re being paid well.”