Neil Lennon has been defending his decision not to feature Odsonne Edouard in the recent 3-2 win over Livingston.
Despite the game being five days ago, and all eyes turning to the Riga FC game, Lennon still commented on his decision to leave the Hoops’ star striker on the bench.
“The right decision”
“Sometimes, you have to listen to where the player’s coming from. We made the right decision. We won, he’s fresh and it sets us up nicely for this game” Lennon said, as quoted by the Scottish Sun, ahead of the match against Riga FC.
This was a smart move by Neil Lennon on a few fronts. Firstly, it gave Neil Lennon the chance to rest the player when it was reported by 67HH that he felt ‘fatigued’ before the game.
There is no point playing a player if they are going to be fatigued. It is better to just rest the player when possible. Secondly, it is always wise to give other players a run out in the squad. How are you meant to know if a player is good enough if they are not given the opportunity to have a first-team chance.
That is what has happened with Albian Ajeti. We might not have known just how good a finisher he is without the chances he has been given recently.
Replacement took chance with aplomb
He took the chance to replace Edouard with aplomb, scoring the Hoops’ third goal. Okay, Neil Lennon might still be looking to settle on his best Celtic side at the moment.
However, whilst he looks for that, it is the perfect time to experiment and give recent signings a chance to shine.
Therefore, the Hoops boss had no reason to defend his decision. He was proven correct. That is no surprise. He has been for the majority of time since he returned as Celtic boss last season.
In other news, Scott Brown is already impressed with Shane Duffy.
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