Celtic manager Neil Lennon thinks Jozo Simunovic is in a ‘good place’ after speaking to him at Lennoxtown yesterday but has also divulged the defender is a major doubt to play against Livingston this week, The Scottish Sun report.
Simunovic came under fire for his performance against Copenhagen last week, making a critical error that led to the Danish side taking a crucial lead in the two-legged tie.
It was one of a number of poor defensive lapses committed by the team on the night but understandably some fans were frustrated with the Croatian’s performance in particular.
Lennon though has tipped the player to bounce back, feeling that it would harsh to consider Simunovic cost Celtic the game.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, the Celtic Park boss said: “Will Jozo bounce back? Absolutely. We got it back to 1-1, so that didn’t cost us the game.
“It was the game- management in the two minutes after we scored that cost us. We were all culpable for that.
“I didn’t need to have a chat with him. We spoke this morning about life in general and he’s in a good place.
“His knee is not responding quite as we’d like, so he’s a major doubt for Wednesday.”
It seems then there is less concern about the blow such an error could have had on Jozo’s confidence and more concern about his physical fitness moving ahead.
It bodes well that the player isn’t letting last week get to him.
The fact his knee isn’t responding very well doesn’t sound particularly good however, especially when you consider the 25-year-old has already been out this season to receive knee surgery.
Thankfully with the return to fitness of Hatem Abd Elhamed and Nir Bitton, Lennon has plenty of personnel to keep his tactical options open.
The manager has gone to efforts to protect Simunovic from any European blame so it’d be no surprise to see him return to the starting lineup as soon as he is injury-free again.
Although he may not be the most popular player in the squad amongst fans right now, he’ll need our backing to maintain performance levels between now and the summer, when his long-term future can be assessed.
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