Neil Lennon reckons Celtic defender Shane Duffy is starting to come back in to form.
The centre-back has been pretty woeful in his first couple of months in Glasgow, and dropped out of the team for our recent clash at Motherwell amid heavy criticism from supporters.
The 28-year-old’s Republic of Ireland are struggling badly for form at present – and have failed to score a single goal in their last seven matches.
But Lennon reckons he’s seen something from Duffy to suggest he is getting his best form back.
“He was another one who played the three 90 minutes,” Lennon said on Friday, as per the club’s YouTube video.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to play through it if you’re struggling for form or confidence.
“I saw a lot in his performances to start to show that he is coming back in to a lot of form.”
Duffy problem isn’t going away for Lennon
With Kristoffer Ajer fit following a club mix-up on Friday, it will be interesting to see if Lennon puts Duffy back in the side.
Nir Bitton started our last game at Motherwell, but was hardly convincing amongst the hosts’ aerial bombardment in the second-half.
But against a slick Hibernian side who have real pace in attack, it may make more sense to stick with the Israeli than play out of form Duffy.
Bitton played well against Scotland in the position on Wednesday and must now be viewed as a genuine option for the role.
But the Duffy problem just isn’t going away. We are reportedly paying a lot of money to have him at the club. He simply can’t spend the rest of the season on the bench.
We can’t afford to wait for him to come good on the pitch. But equally, will sitting on the bench do him any good?
It’s time for Lennon to earn his corn.
In other news, Neil Lennon had some interesting things to say about Ryan Christie’s Scotland involvement on Friday
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