The Celtic Thread

Neil Lennon reckons Celtic produced a dazzling “10 out of 10” show as they hammered Hibs.

But the Parkhead gaffer's joy has been tempered by the fact he’s facing a fraught final week of the transfer window and that key man Albian Ajeti has joined James Forrest on the crock list.

Lennon was buoyant after his team’s dynamic performance to hammer Hibs by a 3-0 scoreline.

The manager felt it was a stunning show and said: “It was ten out of ten, the best of the season. One of the best of my time as manager the first or second time around.

“I thought we were outstanding and I thought the football we played was brilliant. The control of the game was brilliant.

“We defended when we had to, really well. And it was just an outstanding all round team performance.

“It was a big game for us. Hibs came here having not dropped a point away from home, but we were miles ahead in all departments.”

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Ajeti will join Forrest in being scanned after tugging his hamstring while scoring the second goal of the win.

Lennon said: “Hopefully that will only be a couple of weeks. He [Ajeti] has not had a lot of football in the last 12 months and you can’t just throw him into game after game.

“We try to do it bit by bit, getting him fitter game by game. Then something like that happens. It’s unfortunate because he is in great goalscoring form and we will definitely miss him.

“He [Forrest] has a scan and then we will have a fair idea of the length of time after that. I would doubt very much he would make the Scotland game.

“Ryan Christie will be fine. He was almost like winded by an elbow on the stomach and pretty sore at half-time. He should be okay.”

Injury concerns mean Lennon wants to keep his main men in place until the window closes as well as adding a left-back and he said: “I speak to Nick [Hammond] every day. We are spinning a few plates on a couple of players.

“We want to add maybe just one to the squad and keep everybody else. It’s going to be fraught because it’s the last week of the window.

“There could be a lot of people scrambling for players and we are not immune to that, but we don’t want to sell anybody and I think we are quite strong on that at the minute.”

Odsonne Edouard came off the bench following Ajeti’s injury, but he was upstaged by a superb second-half show from fellow sub David Turnbull and a sizzling display by Jeremie Frimpong.

Lennon said: “He [Turnbull] did well. Showed great vision and looked comfortable in his environment. He has a bit of work to do. But I was really pleased with his contribution for the third goal and he looked assured out there.

“We think he is a very talented young Scottish player and we are delighted to have him. You will see more of him as he goes on.

“He [Frimpong] was back to form on Thursday night and brilliant. He provides so much enthusiasm and energy and quality to the team. He was outstanding.

“Albian and Mo [Elyounoussi] are good players so I have no qualms about leaving Odsonne out and giving him a break. He came on and looked good.

“Elyounoussi had another very good game. Intelligent play off the ball and a good finish for the third goal. I am delighted with him as well.’

“He [Edouard] has not been himself and he knows that. But for the length of time he was on he was great. We like to have depth and I don’t see it as competition.

“If someone is struggling a little bit for form or fitness then we have good players to come in and play and make us as good as we were.”

--Premier Sports 📺
@PremierSportsTV
2h
Hi there, unfortunately we won't be showing this game on Thursday--

UH OH

Your @WilliamHill Scottish Cup Semi-Final weekend is confirmed.

🆚 @JamTarts v @HibernianFC
🗓 Saturday, 31 October – 5pm
📺 @PremierSportsTV & @BBCScotland

🆚 @CelticFC v @AberdeenFC
🗓 Sunday, 1 November – 2.30pm
📺 @PremierSportsTV

Still no official word on where this Europa play off will be shown

Edited by tonyjaa - 29 Sep 2020 at 9:49am

tonyjaa wrote: Still no official word on where this Europa play off will be shown

Tomorrows game on Celtic TV too.

Jock wrote: manchesterbhoy wrote: tonyjaa wrote: Still no official word on where this Europa play off will be shown celtic pass has it  as for sunday much better  early days but turnbull looks to have something about him plays with his head up, not going to go into comparisons but its been a while to see a player like him whats the view on sevco here do we want them out thursday or in to help the coefficient ? Id want them in on the basis that they have the same amount of games as us. 6 less games could benefit them, as they seem to be stretched with injuries as it is. More talk of clubs interested in Ntcham. Hes probably the most sellable asset that I would be happy to let go from say him Ajer and Eddy. Good player but we have plenty of options there and his consistency isnt great.

irishmufc wrote: Any decent links for the match?

pre Madonna wrote: irishmufc wrote: Any decent links for the match? Will have something closer kick-off! Hold tough!