After his brilliant midweek performance against Partick Thistle, it was no surprise to see Olivier Ntcham in the Celtic starting line-up for the third game in a row against Hibernian.
However, Ntcham didn’t turn in the best performance in the 1-1 draw at Easter Road. He played in a more advanced role, and after a decent start he seemed to drift out of the game.
His performance perhaps wasn’t helped by a spat he found himself involved in with Hibs’ Josh Vela. Thankfully Ntcham was only booked for his role in the alteration.
Eventually substituted in second-half
The player was eventually substituted in the second-half, and the Hoops’ performance improved a tad when Ryan Christie moved into Ntcham’s position. It still wasn’t enough to win the three points though.
After the indifferent display, will Ntcham find himself back on the bench for the Europa League clash against Cluj?
It could depend on the position Neil Lennon wants to play him in. It would perhaps suit the team more if Christie was in the advanced midfield position, with two of the trio of Ntcham, Scott Brown and Callum McGregor playing centrally in the middle of the park.
Would perhaps play better in central midfield role
Brown seems unlikely to miss out, so it could be a case of either McGregor or Ntcham in the team. McGregor has played a lot of football recently. Therefore, it could be a good idea to play Brown and Ntcham together.
However, for most of this season it has been Brown and McGregor in the middle of the park together. That might well be the case again against Cluj.
Should that be the case, it would make sense to play Christie in the attacking midfield role where he thrives. It is both a good and bad thing to have so many good midfielders in the Celtic squad.
There are plenty of options, but if the wrong team is selected the team could malfunction, like it did against Hibs.
Neil Lennon will be giving plenty of thought to his midfield selection to play Cluj, and it will be very interesting to see if Ntcham keeps his place in the side, or is back on the bench.
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