John Kennedy has revealed two fresh Celtic injury knocks picked up ahead of tonight’s game against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, as he explained the decision to throw Scott Brown back in.
Brown was one of the major under-performers for the Hoops at Ibrox on Sunday. Given the fact we now have nothing else to play for, it looked logical to give Ismaila Soro the minutes tonight instead. That was certainly what the fans were looking for.
But Kennedy decided to keep his captain in the team for this evening’s clash, with Brown coming up against his future employers.
The temporary Celtic boss also lifted the lid on two fresh injury concerns picked up before the game. Speaking to BBC Sportsound [21/04, 18:47], Kennedy said the following:
“Kris Ajer took a knock and Barkas took a knock yesterday in training. So it’s ones we didn’t risk. It gives us a chance to bring Greg back in and Nir Bitton back into the team. We’re not carrying a huge squad at the minute so a couple of changes, we stay strong, go and attack the game and try and win it.
“He’s okay [Ajer]. He hurt his shoulder in the game [at Ibrox] and managed to get through it. Just for a couple of days he was a bit tender and stuff but there was no need to risk him tonight. He’s played loads of games this season as well so it gives us a chance to bring Nir into the team.
“It probably comes down to the schedule [with Brown]. If we had a game this weekend then we probably would’ve looked at it slightly differently. The fact that after tonight we don’t have a game for 10 days…and in terms of mentality for Scott coming here there’s no problem with that. I know what he’s like. He’s very committed to who he plays for and for us that’s important. He’s our leader and he’s an important players for us. It was easy enough to put him in tonight.”
John Kennedy reveals two Celtic injury concerns, but a massively disappointing line-up for the support
First off, hopefully Kris Ajer and Vasilis Barkas recover from their respective knocks. Kennedy didn’t go into any detail on what was wrong with the latter, but it’s unlikely he would’ve started in any case.
More importantly, however, tonight’s team selection is a massive disappointment. We were all hoping for much more change than we’ve seen from the manager.
It doesn’t matter how the team have performed tonight. There’s nothing to play for anymore outside of pride. It was important for the supporters to see some of the fringe players in action. Granted, we may see that as the game goes on, but it was a chance to play them from the beginning.
It’s also a sign of how Kennedy is choosing to manage these last few matches. Any hopes of changing things around for the remaining games is now out the window. It’s difficult to see where Kennedy does that considering he’s gone against it tonight.
Our next matches involve Rangers at Ibrox and Hibernian at Easter Road sandwiching a home clash vs St Johnstone. One appearance against the Saints for the fringe players isn’t going to cut it. Pittodrie and Easter Road were major opportunities to see some of our youngsters and fringe players.
Instead, it’s the same old flops out on show again. Regardless of the scoreline, this was a missed opportunity.
In other news, here’s a look at how the fans reacted to tonight’s starting XI.
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