Celtic have hit a rich vein of form heading into the business end of the season.
Hitting ten goals in their last two games, Celtic are firing on all cylinders as the Scottish Cup quarter-final clash against Hibs approaches, as well as the final Celtic Park Glasgow Derby of the season against Rangers.
With Brendan Rodgers’ side on the brink of a potential treble, Neil Lennon has hailed one of the Celtic manager’s summer signings form right now and believes he has proved his early-season critics wrong.
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Neil Lennon pinpoints exactly where Celtic hero Arne Engels has ‘improved’
Celtic’s Arne Engels has had his critics since he made his big £11 million move from Augsburg last summer.
However, with ten goals and twelve assists to his name for the season, Lennon says the Belgian is ‘improving’ all the time and is just going to get better.
Lennon told the Daily Record, “He wasn’t doing that earlier in the season. I thought at times defensively he wasn’t at it and that seems to be an area that he’s improved on.
“He made a great challenge the second half against St Mirren where he ate up the ground and got across. His all-round game is improving all the time.
“I thought he started well, then there was a dip. In some of the games, in terms of Celtic playing tight areas, he was struggling a little bit with the ball. But the last six weeks I think he’s really flourished. I think he’s been brilliant.”
Neil Lennon hails Arne Engels’ Champions League performances for Celtic
In the Champions League, Engels has scored one and created three, but it was his performances in Celtic’s games against Bayern Munich and Aston Villa that particularly impressed Lennon.
Lennon continued, “I thought he was good at Villa, but I thought he was excellent against Bayern Munich in both the games. I think he’s taken a lot of confidence from that. His game at the minute is excellent.
“The second goal against Aberdeen, you saw him in full flow. He ran 60-70 yards to join the counter-attack and he received the ball, gave it back to Jota, and Jota scored. But the run he made was fantastic.
“That’s what he always had, and now his football in tighter areas is improving as well. He’s got a great sort of whip cross. He crosses the ball from wide areas really well. He just gets it out of his feet and puts it in that area. So, his all-round game is improving.
“Nothing seems to faze him. There’s a quiet confidence about him. He speaks well. He’s an intelligent boy. I think he speaks three or four different languages as well. But just in general, I think his game has come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of months and he’s a player playing with a lot of confidence.”
At just 21, Engels is already a fully fledged Belgian international and is on the verge of creating history with Celtic by winning a treble.
Taking into account that it’s just his first season in Paradise, fans will be delighted at how the young midfielder has settled into Celtic, and if there is more to come from him, then Rodgers certainly has a serious player on his hands.
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