Neil Lennon’s midfield dilemma

In the first three competitive games of the season, Neil Lennon has played the same midfield trio. Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie.

Thus far, we have come away with two wins and a draw from these three games. Now, many may argue that they should continue to play, but there is the small case of Oliver Ntcham.

Ntcham has also featured in each of these games, playing a combined 60 minutes coming on as a substitute in each. Even though he has had minimal minutes, he has impressed especially in the last outing again KR Reykjavik, grabbing himself two assists. One of which was an incredible pass, in between the lines of the Icelandic defence to find Mohamed Elyounoussi.

This has also led to many calling for Ntcham to start in the coming games, so could this weekends game against Dundee United, see the return of the Frenchman in the starting line-up?

I believe this would be the perfect opportunity to give the Celtic number 22 the first start of the season that he deserves.

This would then beg the question, who would have to be the one dropping out of the first 11?

One player who we can definitely rule out, is Callum McGregor. The Scottish midfielder has started off the season in his usual form and been a massive influence for the team so far. His passing ability is almost nothing like we see from players in Scotland; he is consistently on the move and adds an extra edge to the side.

So Neil Lennon would now have a big decision to make whether to drop captain Scott Brown or attacking midfielder Ryan Christie.

Brown can have a significant influence on the squad, differently to any of our other midfield players at the club. He is a leader, who brings so much experience to this squad. But there may not be a need for him in this sort of games. He is also getting to an age where he won’t be able to play Tuesday/Wednesday-Saturday, every week at 35, so it may give Lennon a chance to provide Brown with a rest.

In Christie’s case, he hasn’t had the best start to the season, as he did this time last year. Don’t get me wrong; he has been his usual, busy self, pressing opposition defences non-stop and even managed to get a goal in the last league outing against Kilmarnock but may be dropping out, for now, will do him some good. It will show his place in the team isn’t guaranteed and hopefully push his performance to another level again.

Whatever midfield three, we see come 5:30 on Saturday night, I think it certainly should include Oliver Ntcham, who seems raring to go and deserves to show what he can do when starting in a game like this. It leaves Lennon, with a huge decision to make, keeping everyone in the squad happy. But at the end of the day, I suppose that’s what comes with being a manager, sorting out these sort of dilemma’s and making the right choices, which we know the Northern Irishman is capable of.