Jackie McNamara is the latest in a long line of ex Celtic players to question current boss Neil Lennon’s post match press conference comments. Lennon made an astonishing claim that midfielder, David Turnbull and striker Leigh Griffiths need to “get fitter” if they are to become first team picks.
It was statement I questioned in an article this week as it seemed a strange comment to make considering we are a third of the way through the season.
Speaking to Celtic fan site HailHail67, McNamara said “I don’t get how they can’t be fit. I can get it if they’ve not played a lot of games in terms of sharpness – sharpness is different“. Which takes us to the crux of the matter.
Lennon needs to clarify exactly what he meant by fitness. If he was solely talking about general fitness then you need to question the training going on at Lennoxtown. And yes, I do realise that Leigh Griffiths reported back form lock down unfit and overweight but that was over five months ago now.
McNamara then went on and said he would like to see Turnbull and Soro start more games. On Turnbull, “His first game he looked good”, “But when he came on (on Sunday) he put a good ball through to Griffiths – he’s got good vision and sometimes in these games you need someone who has that pass“.
He continued on Soro, “But Soro I’ve not seen much of him. I’d like to see if he can step in when Brown is injured, suspended – whenever.”
This is a sentiment shared by many Celtic fans. Brown is clearly off the pace. Maybe Soro could be an injection of young, fresh talent may give the drive the midfield engine room is lacking and Turnbull that creative spark that is sorely lacking in the creative middle to third.
Hopefully we see more of these two talents as the season goes on and what better game to try it than a meaningless Europa League game tomorrow night.