Celtic boss Neil Lennon was keeping his cards close to his chest on Friday when asked about the club’s goalkeeping issue.
Scott Bain has started each of the club’s last five matches – after summer signing Vasilis Barkas dropped out of the first-team.
Barkas has been on the bench for all but one of those matches, and it is clear that Bain has the jersey at present.
To compound matters for the former AEK Athens man, he has dropped out of the Greece first-team, being replaced by Benfica’s Odisseas Vlachodimos for their last two competitive matches.
When quizzed about his goalkeeping decision for the visit to Hibernian on Saturday, Lennon was playing things down.
“Well, you’ll have to wait and see tomorrow,” he told reporters, with an intriguing smile on his face.
It’s time for Lennon to bring Barkas back in
Lennon may be playing down the issue in public, but it must be one of the last things he thinks about before falling to sleep at night.
It was hoped, and probably expected, that Barkas would come to the club and fill a giant Fraser Forster sized hole.
But the Greek stopper has looked far from convincing so far, and has paid the price as a result.
But with every passing game that Bain starts, the problem gets bigger and bigger.
That’s why Lennon must soon restore Barkas to the first-team, where he can start to build positive relationships with his defenders.
It’s not as if things have improved drastically under Bain. We’ve conceded 10 goals in the five games since the Scotland cap returned to the team. Hardly inspiring form.
Now is the time to get Barkas back in the team, Neil. Otherwise we risk totally shattering his confidence.
In other news, Neil Lennon reckons he’s seen an improvement in Shane Duffy over the international break
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