NEIL LENNON made a call a few weeks back which he should now revisit as we look to get some consistency in performances and results after the international break.
The Celtic manager dropped Vasilis Barkas from the team after a string of average performances. The Greek internationals shot-stopping abilities being the focal point of many peoples grievances.
We now have Scott Bain in goals, and bar the penalty save in Lille, we just can’t see why he warrants a place going forward. There’s a bit of a double standard going on because some of the goals which have been shipped under Bain would have seen Barkas get verbals for doing so. Scott seems to be getting a free pass with some fans forgetting the erratic moments in most games he’s played this term.
Karate chopping a catchable ball against Motherwell, his spill in Lille when he was left in no man’s land and some goals conceded he could have done much better.
Scott has had a long run in goals during his time at the club and there’s nothing I’ve seen which says he should be a first team starter.
Is Vasilis Barkas?
Well, we can’t know for sure, we just don’t have the sample size we have with Scott. What I have gathered from Barkas and his early performances, he is more confident in the air and his distribution is good. Again, it’s the bread and butter of the shot-stopping which has many fans already clamouring to call him a dud. If you’ve seen Barkas play outwith Celtic, you will know he is a good shot-stopper, for whatever reason, it hasn’t shined through yet.
He now deserves the chance to put his indifferent start to the season behind him and really make the position his own. But will Neil Lennon afford him that opportunity? Could we be waiting on a Scott Bain howler before he pulls the trigger?
It ultimately doesn’t matter how much we paid for Barkas (£4.5m as per Transfermarkt), it should certainly only come down to who is the better keeper, we know what Bain has, let’s see what Barkas has really got.
