Olivier Ntcham’s game-time over the last couple of months has undoubtedly been less than he would like.
In recent weeks, he’s failed to make the matchday squad against the likes of Cluj, Lazio, Ross County, and Aberdeen – mainly down to injury.
He managed a brief cameo against St Mirren earlier last week. He featured for the final 20 minutes in a quiet performance late on. However, he was once again resigned to the bench against Hibs yesterday.
Ntcham had to watch on as Jonny Hayes, Hatem Abd Elhamed, and a not 100% fit Ryan Christie came on instead of him.
For weeks we’ve been hearing different views on Callum McGregor. Many believe he should be getting rested more. Yet, despite having Ntcham at his disposal, Lenny has only started the Frenchman on seven occasions this season. The other 10 outings for him have been from the bench.
His last start for the club came towards the end of September when Celtic drew 1-1 at Easter Road to Hibs. The truth is he’s been struggling all season to lay down his mark on this Celtic side.
Ntcham just can’t get past Scott Brown or Callum McGregor
Lenny clearly loves the duo of Scott Brown and Callum McGregor. Ntcham, meanwhile, appears to have his role of being a reserve if we need him. It’s a damning position for him given how vital he’s been to our cause over the last couple of years. And he’s far too good to be a bench-warmer every week.
It would be interesting to know if this also has anything to do with his summer comments to L’Equipe about leaving the club. Ntcham certainly isn’t going to gather much interest from other clubs sitting on our bench.
Ntcham summer saga is apparently all over
Lennon has, in the past, claimed that the Ntcham saga is all over (Daily Record). But it would be even more worrying for the Frenchman if he was simply this lowly thought of by the manager. He’s barely been kicking a ball for us over the last few months. He’s started only four of our 11 league games, and just two over the last two months.
His squad position is nowhere near what he would’ve hoped at the start of the season. But he’s now in a position where he simply can’t replace McGregor or Brown anytime soon. With Lenny’s refusal to rotate that area of the pitch to any great degree, game-time for Ntcham as we head towards January looks sparse.
Sure, with the schedule we have, he’s bound to see more minutes and maybe even a couple more starts. But when it comes to the crunch games? His place is on the bench, and that doesn’t look like changing anytime soon. But the big question is this – is he too good for that role?
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