Celtic fans were given a bit of a surprise on Friday by manager Neil Lennon. He confirmed on the club’s Twitter account that captain Scott Brown might miss the Betfred Cup semi-final against Hibs on Saturday.
Lennon’s comments came only 24 hours after Brown declared himself fit for the game. Something must have changed in that 24 hours though, if Brown is now a doubt.
With Lazio and some other important games on the horizon, if Brown is a doubt there is no point in Neil Lennon risking him for the game.
Place may have opened up in the middle of the park
That means a space has opened up in the middle of the park. You have to imagine that Callum McGregor will start the game. Therefore, it will be between a few players for the second starting slot in the middle of the park.
Nir Bitton can play in the middle of the park, for example. However, when it comes down to it, there is only one player who should be selected – Olivier Ntcham.
Ntcham has not started a game for Celtic for a while, but he is still in the manager’s plans. That was shown when he came on in the second-half of the recent 2-0 win over St Mirren and replaced Brown.
Lennon will have no issues about starting Ntcham in a cup semi-final. He has played in plenty of big games in his time at Celtic Park.
Battle with former Celt will be interesting to watch
His battle with Scott Allan will certainly be interesting to watch. He will be tasked with stopping the Hibs midfielder stamping his authority on the game. Should Ntcham win that battle it will go a long way towards helping the Hoops win the game.
Ntcham will also want to improve on his performance in the 1-1 draw with Hibs in September. He didn’t have best game that day, and was eventually substituted on the hour mark. Ntcham will be eager to show that poor performance was a one-off. It looks like he may get the chance to prove that in the Betfred Cup semi-final.
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