As Kennedy clears up Celtic's Ajeti mystery; it's time for an explanation on Patryk Klimala

By David Walton

March 24, 2021

There were plenty of question marks over Albian Ajeti’s failure to make the squad on Sunday, but what one earth is going on with Celtic’s Patryk Klimala?

John Kennedy came out and cleared up the Ajeti discussion. It was simply a case of him being the fourth-choice striker and the manager not wanting to put four centre-forwards on the bench. Fair enough, that makes total sense.

However, one of the strikers that was on the bench appears to have very quickly been forgotten about in Klimala.

Kennedy started Patryk in his first game in charge vs Aberdeen. It was only the Polish striker’s first start since December’s 3-2 home win vs Lille. At the time, Kennedy bigged it up as Klimala’s turn to show what he was all about. He all but suggested he was set for a run in the side after being selected to partner Odsonne Edouard.

Speaking to BBC Sportsound on Radio Scotland [27/02, 14:06], the interim boss said: “We bring Patryk into the fold. Patryk is one who has not played a lot of minutes, not had a lot of game time. Over the last year he has progressed and he’s now at a point that I think he’s ready to go.

“We’ve got a lot of technical players and those who like to come and play, Patryk will give us something different in that respect. We’ve done a lot of work with him, in terms of what we expect from him, without putting too much pressure on him.”

Celtic’s Patryk Klimala dropped instantly with no sign of a quick return

What’s frustrating about this is that Klimala had been bigged up for more minutes. It looked as though the Aberdeen game was going to prove to be the start of a run in the team for him.

There’s a ridiculous feeling that strikers who are on the periphery of things simply have to score in order to stay in the team. If Klimala had netted in that 65 minute outing vs the Dons, would he have been back in the side? Most probably.

Yet, in the resulting two games, when we’ve been chasing a goal in both, he’s been snubbed. Kennedy has instead brought on Leigh Griffiths to try and do some damage in both games.

Dundee United and Rangers were both trying to push forward and win the respective matches in their own right. If Klimala is all about pace, why not give him a chance to catch the back-line out? Why, all of a sudden, is he behind Leigh Griffiths in the pecking order once again?

Celtic striker Patryk Klimala / (Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Celtic strike-force pecking order makes little sense

There just doesn’t appear to be any sort of system in place here. When Klimala starts games it just feels random – not based on anything to do with the opposition and their weaknesses.

The Poland under-21 international didn’t shine against Aberdeen. For the most part he was quiet, but it was his first start well over two months. David Turnbull struggled when he was given the odd start after signing. It was only after he received a run of games that he started to shine. Klimala has never truly been given that opportunity.

It would be good to know where he stands in the squad after the interim boss’ recent decisions. But given how the picture looks at the moment, a loan move this summer would hardly surprise you.

In other news, we discuss why this week is massive for Odsonne Edouard and Celtic.