“Leave the goalkeeper alone”; Celtic fans rally round Vasilis Barkas; recognise the need to stick by him

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Many in the Celtic support have been rallying round new number one Vasilis Barkas after a stinging Glasgow derby debut.

The Greek international didn’t convince some with his shot-stopping for both of Connor Goldson’s goals on Saturday. Unfortunately for Barkas, his display was enough for some who were already unconvinced to give him further pelters after the game.

Celtic fans have been expecting big things from Neil Lennon’s £4.5million summer buy from AEK Athens (Scottish Sun). However, he’s yet to win over most in the support as he’s still to string together a run of fine form.

But there have been plenty of fans who have moved to back Barkas since the weekend too. Here’s a look at the comments from some who are urging the rest to give him more time:

https://twitter.com/Jozo_67/status/1318236415734501376

https://twitter.com/LewisLaird01/status/1317783959183511553

https://twitter.com/CoillnagColpach/status/1317959403430137856

Barkas has still shown some promising signs

I’m not going to pretend Barkas has had the start at Parkhead we all would’ve dreamed of. He hasn’t been making top save after top save and keeping a host of clean sheets since he joined.

But there have still been some promising signs that you can’t just dismiss. His best performance of the season up at Ross County for example saw him make three or four tremendous stops to keep us well in front. It was a fine display of shot-stopping as he picked up a deserved clean sheet.

In addition to that, as some have said above, he’s an extremely imposing goalkeeper and one that does generally command his box well. There was nothing he could’ve done when it comes to coming out and collecting the cross for Rangers’ opener on Saturday. Should he have saved the header? Yes, but he most certainly shouldn’t be dropped for not doing so.

The worst thing we can do as a club in this situation is to drop him. For a goalkeeper in such a desperate search for a morale-booster, it wouldn’t do much for him if we’re to put him on the bench and start giving Scott Bain a run.

So it’s good to see he still has plenty in the support who have his back. The 10-in-a-row season was always going to lead us into giving some hasty verdicts on new signings.

It’s important that we continue to keep the head and push forward with Barkas as our first-choice. Next up – AC Milan. What a chance for the Greek to make himself a hero.

In other news, Ross County boss Stuart Kettlewell has slammed an idea that would’ve seen Celtic lose points in August.