There were plenty of positives to take from yesterday’s 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win against Aberdeen at Hampden, but there’s one that likely won’t be mentioned much if at all.
For the first time in a domestic game this season, Neil Lennon was able to call on four fully fit and firing strikers. Odsonne Edouard may have been the only striker to start the game, but Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti, and Patryk Klimala were all available on the bench.
Griffiths and Ajeti both came on for the final 15 minutes or so, whilst Klimala spent the full game as an unused substitute. Edouard, meanwhile, was making his first start for the club since a 2-0 win at St Johnstone back on October 4th.
It wasn’t of course the first time Lennon has had all four available to him when you include European fixtures. That came on Thursday night in Lille when Edouard returned to the squad and made up the striking quartet.
But you could argue that yesterday was the first time we had all four back to full-fitness after Edouard showed plenty of promise during his time on the pitch.
Between the four strikers, Celtic have struck 18 goals. That’s a fine stat and shows just how effective all four can be. It’s even more impressive when you think that not one of them has been fit for the entirety of the first few months of the campaign.
Lennon must be buzzing with his options
What it gives Neil Lennon is differing options. When Edouard isn’t performing, he now knows he can turn to Ajeti and Griffiths. If that isn’t working, perhaps Klimala can come on and roughen the opposition defence up a bit. Having all of this available at his disposal is massive for the manager.
What will be interesting now is how Lennon keeps them all satisfied. It looks as though Celtic are settling with a one-striker system again after a failed run with the 3-5-2 which served us so well last year. It could be the case that Lennon recruited Ajeti in the summer with that 3-5-2 in mind as it would’ve had us with two strikers per slot.
Therefore, for the most part, Celtic will likely start games with three strikers sitting on the bench. As much as that’s going to give the club plenty of depth moving forward, it could prove to be a real test of Lennon’s man-management skills. All four will need to feel valued and satisfied with their roles at the club.
So far he’s been working it well. All four centre-forwards are receiving regular opportunities to make an impact, and the idea will be that the competition drives them to their highest levels.
In any case, ahead of such a packed period up until the end of 2020, it’s promising for the club to have so many forward options. In fact, it’s brilliant to have such a variety of different attacking threats for Lennon to choose from – all with their own unique traits.
All eyes will now be on who takes the reins against Sparta Prague on Thursday night. The smart money has to be on Edouard for the moment.
In other news, the Celtic supporters were appreciative of Shane Duffy’s performance yesterday, in what we hope will be the big Irishman’s turning point.
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