Neil Lennon wowed by impact Celtic star has had on the team after win over Motherwell

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Celtic returned to the top of the Scottish Premiership table by beating Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park on Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers made several changes to his XI after Celtic’s draining 0-0 draw against Atalanta in the Champions League in midweek.

On one hand, some of the changes were just pure rotation, but on the other, captain Callum McGregor was missing through injury.

Celtic were a little slow to get started and they couldn’t find that rhythm during the opening stages, but that quickly changed as soon as Luke McCowan opened the scoring.

To the credit of the home side, they did hit the woodwork twice before the first goal went in, but there wasn’t much to shout about after that.

In the second half, Alistair Johnston made a great run and headed in Celtic’s second goal of the game, with the Canadian meeting Alex Valle’s brilliant pin-point cross and Adam Idah then added from the bench.

But there was one man Neil Lennon wanted to give his flowers to following his summer transfer to Parkhead.

Neil Lennon hails Luke McCowan’s impact at Celtic after win over Motherwell

With McGregor absent, this was a great chance for McCowan to prove that he was worthy of a starting spot and good enough to come in for such a prominent figure.

It also needs to be noted that Celtic’s midfield is pretty strong and even Paulo Bernardo is struggling to earn regular starts, despite joining last summer and not doing much wrong.

But Lennon is loving the impact McCowan has had since his summer transfer from Dundee and how his opening goal was ‘beautiful’.

Lennon added that the 26-year-old did ‘really well’ during the game and looked ‘really comfortable in the set-up’, as he told Sky Sports Football (27/10/24 at 3:50 pm).

“Yeah, beautiful (taken goal),” said Lennon. “Lennon Miller gambles a little bit, but Luke still has a lot to do. He gets a nutmeg off Balmer and then composes himself. Just a little nutmeg, adjusts his body here and then shoots it low between Gordon’s legs.

“It’s a fabulous individual goal. And he has played really well in the throws of the game. He looks really comfortable in the set-up. I think that’s his second goal already for Celtic and what an impact he is making since his move from Dundee.” 

Luke McCowan’s stats for Celtic against Motherwell

It was a brilliant game from Celtic’s new boy and it surely makes Rodgers think twice when he is selecting his XI for future matches.

The games continue to come thick and fast, so there are ample chances for Rodgers to rotate.

But against Motherwell themselves, it was yet another solid performance from the midfielder and three more points towards winning his first title as a player.

WhoScored deservedly awarded McCowan a rating of 8.07, with the player having 72 touches during the game and making one key pass.