Neil Lennon ready to phone Trapattoni to urge him to take in-form Anthony Stokes to Euro finals

Published on Wednesday 22 February 2012 00:07

NEIL Lennon says he would be happy to plead Anthony Stokes’ case with the Republic of Ireland football authorities if he thought it would enhance his striker’s chances of being selected for his country.

The Celtic manager expressed surprise that Stokes has not been included in the latest Republic of Ireland squad for their friendly against the Czech Republic next week. Questioning whether there was something personal behind the omission, he said that he would contemplate putting in a call to the FAI if his player’s ongoing improvement went unrewarded.

“Okay, he hasn’t played in any of the qualifying games and there was that time when he pulled out when he was feeling tired at the end of last season. [Giovanni] Trapattoni [the national manager] is probably looking at the players that got him [to this summer’s Euro Championships], but I think the way Anthony is playing, he cannot be ignored. “I see young Jack McClean was picked from Sunderland and if Anthony keeps going in the same vein as he is going, I will be putting a call into the FAI and saying: ‘Look. I think this kid is worth another look.’

“I don’t know if it’s a personal thing. But he’s in form and has scored 18 goals this season. If you look at the other Irish boys in his position. Walters, Doyle, Shane Long, who I admire but has had injury problems. Simon Cox has not been playing as regularly as he would like at West Brom. Anthony has played a lot of games this year and scored a lot of goals and has proved he can score in Europe by playing well and scoring against Rennes. It might have been in people’s minds about whether he could make the step up, but he’s done it this season for us. So I would be prepared to make that call.

“I’m not going to tell Mr Trapattoni how to do his job. All I’m doing is saying, ‘look, I recommend this player to you, and I think he’s worth a look again’. If he can play as he did on Sunday consistently then he’s good enough to be in the squad as far as I’m concerned.”

One of the top performers in a Celtic side which swept Hibs aside 5-0 at the weekend, Stokes’ club manager believes he is playing better than ever having added to his game.

“I think Anthony is definitely improving and there is scope for more. But, if you look at his performance against Hibs, he gave us everything we ask of him. Anthony will always score goals because he has that instinctive movement, but the other aspects of his game were short at times.

“He needs to be more consistent with that. It’s a challenge for me, but it’s got to come from the player himself as well. But he’s seen what he can do, the praise he got afterwards, and the feeling he gets when he puts in a performance like that.”

Lennon’s analysis of his striker is similar to the way he views his team at the moment. Impressed with what they are offering him, he believes there is still more to come. It is an ominous prediction and one which will leave tonight’s opponents, Dunfermline, wary.

“The hard thing is maintaining that and going Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday. It’s a difficult thing to do and we might change the team a little as we have guys who are itching to play.”

The strength in depth is certainly there for all to see and with no fresh injury or suspension issues, it’s not as if he will be putting out a weakened side to face Jim Macintyre’s men.

“Whatever team we send out, it will be strong. There is a belief in the squad. Even before the administration saga, they were playing with it. Look at the performance at Tynecastle two weeks ago. It was great and one of the best in my time here. But we have to temper the euphoria at the minute because we know there are teams we have to beat who are being put in front of us.

“We made life difficult for ourselves against Dunfermline here the last time by missing a lot of chances and they got a good goal with ten minutes to go. From a comfortable position, it became an uncomfortable last ten minutes.”

But the situation Celtic find themselves in at the moment is extremely comfortable. In their six SPL games since the turn of the year, they have scored 17 goals and conceded just one. Another win would extend the gap over Rangers to 20 points.