John Kennedy’s three-game review; why Celtic interim boss has failed his big audition

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It was clear that John Kennedy’s big audition was always going to be a difficult one.

He came into the job trying to take care of a morally-deflated squad that wasn’t truly his. He already had some fans against him with many believing him to be a major part of the problem at Parkhead. Who believed that, until he was dismissed along with Neil Lennon, change was never truly going to occur.

Indeed, in order for Kennedy to have any chance of the job, all of his eight league games needed to end in victories. The Scottish Cup also had to be thrown into the mix too. It was doomed from the start if truth be told.

But after only three games in charge, you even wonder whether Kennedy has what it takes to be a manager anywhere at the moment. That’s regardless of how highly he’s rated. Irrespective of whether big-name figures are talking him up as a future Hoops boss.

Because as supporters, we’ve watched John unfortunately stumble from game to game making terrible in-game decisions that make very little sense.

Chief among them being how late he’s leaving his substitutes or how little he’s using them. In his first game, a flat 1-0 win vs Aberdeen, he made only two out of five changes. The second sub came on with only 12 minutes remaining.

John Kennedy’s Celtic audition hasn’t worked out

At Tannadice days later? It was the same again. The second substitute didn’t come on until there were 12 minutes remaining. Leigh Griffiths was given six minutes to find a winner as our third and final change.

Then you had the absolute shambles that was his in-game decisions against Rangers yesterday. It took Kennedy 79 minutes to make a sub. He spent far too long being conservative and trying not to lose it when we had Rangers by the neck. The biggest insult was giving Griffiths and Ismaila Soro two minutes each.

But it’s not just the timing of the subs, it’s the personnel changes themselves. David Turnbull, one of our brightest sparks all season, has been hooked in all three of Kennedy’s games. Off in the 65th minute vs Aberdeen, 62nd vs Utd, and 79th vs Rangers. That’s despite the fact the inconsistent and generally poor performing Ryan Christie has had 90 minutes in all three of those same matches.

He’s taking off some of our biggest threats and leaving underperformers on the pitch. Meanwhile, others are simply being played out of position.

Elyounoussi’s link-up play with Edouard yesterday was impressive, but he’s not a striker. He clearly likes floating in from the left and combining from there. Yet Kennedy has been reading the Lennon Guide to Football Management and decided to keep him as a centre-forward.

James Forrest came on against Rangers yesterday and inexplicably played in the centre, keeping Christie out on the right. Where on earth that came from is anyone’s guess. It’s like in Football Manager when you make a sub and forget to actually put him into his favoured position.

Kennedy failing to bring the pride back early on

But this is no game. Celtic are a club whose pride has been battered this season. It needed a steady figure to come in and get some confidence going again. Get us back enjoying watching the Bhoys once more. In the three games so far, Kennedy has failed to do that.

Not to mention the fact that he hasn’t been able to fix our Achilles heel yet – the cross-ball. We’re still too greedy in the final third with our decision-making outrageously selfish at times. Whilst youngsters continue to get next to no chance whilst the underperformers remain in the team.

Kennedy has five games remaining, but he knows the audition is over. He’s said the wrong lines and at times just sheer forgotten them. Even if he performs beautifully from here until the interview is officially over, he still clearly has much to learn before he becomes a manager.

This is supposed to be the players’ favoured choice to be the next manager. Former Celt Scott Allan who worked with Kennedy said as much [Daily Record]. Speaking to BBC Scotland (21/03, 14:43) , Welsh echoed those sentiments:

“I think Kendo’s (John Kennedy) doing a great job at the moment. I’ve worked with him for four or five years and he makes it easy for me to go and play. He trusts me to go and play in these games so, yes, definitely I’d like him to get the job.”

However, as supporters we’re not seeing any signs he’s ready for the gig so far. His three-game review has been full of a lot more negatives than positives.

In other news, Neil McCann has backtracked after Rangers failed to win at Celtic Park.