Celtic Q&A: Milan dilemma, Barkas, Griffiths and Ajeti - key queries ahead of huge week

Celtic have questions and concerns swirling around them like confetti following their bloodless showing in the defeat by Rangers. Andrew Smith discusses ...

Celtic's David Turnbull needs to be given minutes on the pitch against AC Milan (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

How important is the AC Milan game?

The peculiar nature of this season is such that were Celtic to win the Europa League – however inconceivable that might be – yet lose the title the campaign would still be an unmitigated, and unforgivable, disaster in the eyes of the club’s support. The next seven months are all about clinching the fabled 10-in-a-row. They might never have another opportunity. As a result, Europe is a distant second in the list of priorities.

Neil Lennon should acknowledge as much by sending out the message in the coming days that he will use Thursday’s Group H opener to get players into shape for domestic challenges. If there is one game that Lennon’s team absolutely must win this week, it is the fixture at Pittodrie on Sunday.

Vasilis Barkas has yet to show he can be commanding in Celtic colours (Mark Scates / SNS Group)

To that end, Lennon should follow the lead of his Italian counterpart Stefano Pioli. Milan News 24 website have reported Pioli will start some fringe players in Glasgow, with the bigger picture for the San Siro club maintaining league form that see them top Serie A following four straight victories – the latest Saturday’s 2-1 derby over Inter.

Lennon should do likewise, for slightly different reasons. David Turnbull and Tom Rogic need game-time to get up to speed, and in the sort of rhythm allowing them to contribute effectively. The pair are potentially two of the club’s most creative players, while the team is crying out for ingenuity and imagination. Olivier Ntcham has failed to deliver too often. The Frenchman has run out of road to effect the renaissance that is nowhere in sight.

How quickly can Albian Ajeti and Leigh Griffiths be primed for starts?

This relates to how Lennon chooses to treat the AC Milan encounter. With Odsonne Edouard apparently in the recovery stage following his positive Covid-19 test a fortnight ago – and his form before that below par – it might be another week to 10 days before the Frenchman is in the frame for selection.

Celtic’s two most natural finishers are Ajeti and Griffiths. Following their injury issues of late, they need to be given every opportunity to play themselves into the sort of fettle that allows them to step into the breach.

Lennon was a little arch in stating post-match on Saturday that the limited contributions by the pair after they appeared in the second half against Rangers demonstrated they were not fit enough to start. The comment seemed an attempt to justify Patryk Klimala’s selection when nothing in the Polish striker’s 67 minutes on the pitch did that.

Klimala, as yet, hasn’t given any indication he could successfully lead the line for a team such as Celtic. Both Griffiths and Ajeti have done so, though. Lennon should throw off the shackles and partner the duo from the off against AC Milan. They need minutes on the pitch, and if they run out of steam after an hour, they will still have made progress to full fitness.

Shape or shapeless?

The froth over Celtic’s 3-5-2 formation not “working” seems to forget why Lennon switched to it in the first place. In December last year, the team had started to appear sterile and predictable in their 4-2-3-1 configuration. Celtic went to Dubai, had two weeks’ worth of training sessions to become comfortable in setting out in a 3-5-2, and were transformed into a free-flowing, free-scoring side.

It isn’t then that Celtic are being handicapped by a system failure, but by the failure of players to adapt/suit that system. Little wonder when the core of the team has been drastically altered by Covid-19 circumstances, injuries and new arrivals. The issue for Lennon is that a player such as Shane Duffy was packed off on loan from Brighton because the club’s manager Graham Potter felt his old-fashioned, up-and-down-stopper style wasn’t conducive to playing in a three and building from the back.

Moreover, with Mohamed Elyounoussi or Ryan Christie tending to be deployed in a more withdrawn role as the second forward, Celtic are not strictly settling out in 3-5-2. Instead, they are operating more of a 3-5-1-1. That is a small, but significant, difference from the positional framework when they were blowing teams away in the early part of the year. Then, there was no question that they had a twin strikeforce with Edouard and Griffiths linking up to feed, and feed off, one another.

Do we need to talk about Vasilis Barkas?

Any Celtic supporters unconvinced by their £4.5m goalkeeping signing from AEK Athens – read: the vast majority of them – should perhaps turn their ire inward.

It still seems strange Craig Gordon wasn’t retained, or that a free transfer move wasn’t made for David Marshall. Both men have a presence – which Fraser Forster possessed in spades – that the 25-year-old Greek has singularly lacked in his early months in the clubs’ colours, despite his 6ft 5in frame.

Yet, the fanbase would have hammered their board with the standard – and regularly misplaced – accusations of cheapskattery had they gone with the Gordon or Marshall options. The more expensive choice isn’t always the best, especially when set against alternatives with vast experience and knowledge of the terrain. Celtic fans may have had cause to reflect on that as Barkas displayed flam fingers in failing to claw away the far-from-travelling Connor Goldson header that resulted in Rangers’ ninth minute opener.

The one plea that can be offered in mitigation for Barkas is that Forster wasn’t instantly a rock-solid game-changer when he first joined Celtic on loan. The club’s goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods helped fashion him into that. Woods now – if you will – has his hands full in being required to perform the same alchemy on Celtic’s current no.1.

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