Neil Lennon took a bit of a gamble on the weekend as he rested some of his heavy hitters against Hearts at Celtic Park. The reason it was a gamble is that Lennon has his doubters, all of which are waiting for an “I told you so” opportunity.
When the manager included Bayo and Forester in the weekends starting line up, the doubters got twitchy, but they were disappointed as Bayo finished the game with a man of the match performance. It was obvious Lennon was resting some players with tonight’s game and a Glasgow Deby looming.
Lennon will have a few things he would like to see happen tonight. First and foremost he needs a result in Stockholm, if Celtic were to lose a 2-0 lead tonight there would be all sorts of downsides. There was very little threat from AIK last week at Paradise, but let’s face it, the Hoops can be Jekyll & Hyde in Europe. If the real Celtic team show up then it is European football for the season.
On top of a result, the Lurgan man will be hoping to leave Sweden without any major injuries ahead of Sunday’s first Glasgow Derby of the season. Whoever wins the game goes top of the SPFL table for early bragging rights.
So, the manager has proved he’s not afraid to back himself with his team selection but tonight’s team kind of picked itself.
