Pat Bonner has detailed a discussion he had with Celtic goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods about current Hoops number one Vasilis Barkas, whilst appearing on the Go Radio Football Show podcast.
Despite an impressive start to his Hoops career, Bonner disclosed that Woods is working with Barkas on improving his physical strength and fitness.
“Develop physically”
“He’s still a bit of development to do, there’s no doubt, I was talking to Stevie about him the other day, he says he just has to develop physically actually a little bit, and from a fitness perspective too” Bonner said, as quoted on the Go Radio Football Show podcast (09/10/20, 44:14).
It will be interesting to see if Barkas puts on more muscle, for example, in the weeks and months ahead. If it is good enough for Stevie Woods then it should be good enough for all at Celtic. Woods has had great success at the Hoops as goalkeeping coach.
Barkas has started well at Celtic Park though since signing from AEK in the summer. It was never going to be straightforward replacing Fraser Forster. He has not let Celtic down when it mattered this season though. Barkas can’t be blamed for the Champions League exit to Ferencvaros.
Has not had break-out performance yet
Still, Barkas has yet to really have a ‘break-out’ game at Celtic, like the aforementioned Forster had against Rangers or Barcelona.
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Hopefully it won’t be in next Sunday’s Glasgow derby. That will mean that the Hoops have conceded plenty of chances, and no one wants to see that happen.
However, if he is kept busy in the derby, you would back Barkas to perform well. You just need to look at his excellent performance against Ross County last month for an example of that.
Neil Lennon will be behind Woods working with Barkas on his strength and fitness. He knows how valuable goalkeeping specialist Woods has been to Celtic. Don’t be surprised if Barkas’ performances get even better as a result.
In other news, Jason Leitch has given an update on the number of fans that could attend Celtic Park this season.
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