Neil Lennon has touched on why Greg Taylor missed our draw in Rennes on Thursday night.
The new-man signed from Kilmarnock at the start of the month, but we’ve yet to see him feature for the Hoops. The form of Boli-Bolingoli has made it tough to drop the Belgian.
As well as that, Lenny has tended to throw Jonny Hayes on in the closing stages of matches. The manager certainly has a strong level of trust in both of those talents.
And as he spoke to the Scottish Sun, Lennon stated that’s the reason Taylor wasn’t in the squad. As well as that, Neil provided an update on two players’ injury knocks.
“Greg is good. He obviously hadn’t played for a while and has been doing a lot of conditioning work. But Bolingoli’s form has been good and, when you’re looking at your bench, Jonny Hayes can play a number of positions.
“That’s why Greg wasn’t in the squad, but with Boli being out for maybe a couple of games, he could be in contention to play. Boli won’t be fit for Sunday and will probably miss Partick Thistle in the cup in midweek. He might be fit for Hibs on Saturday week but Greg is a contender for Kilmarnock, absolutely.
“Nir Bitton and Mikey Johnston aren’t far away from being fit again as well and we’ve got Tom Rogic, who is like a new player for us”
A toss-up between Taylor and Hayes today?
It’s always difficult to truly predict a Neil Lennon side. The Celtic boss has it in him to surprise you when you least expect it. Just when you’re expecting Taylor to make his debut, a Hayes could get thrown in with the new man on the bench.
And that’s perhaps going to be the most interesting choice of the day. Who does Neil go for? On paper, this reads like exactly the kind of game Taylor should be making his debut. It’s on a fine surface against a moderately decent Premiership side. It feels like a good game to throw him in.
Hayes has a role at Parkhead, and we all know what that is. He’ll be there if needed, but his days as a regular starter for Celtic don’t look like arriving.
Taylor’s omission from the Rennes squad was a surprise. Nobody expected him to start, but it seemed likely he would be involved in some capacity. Neil, however, clearly didn’t want to take the risk considering the options he had available to him.
But you also have to question whether Lenny would be throwing the supporters this bone if he didn’t value Taylor for a start today. If he didn’t believe he was ready, would there be any point bigging him up for contention?
It’ll be an interesting decision. Hopefully, however, we get a glimpse of the new man at some stage today.
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