John Kennedy has a special chance to prove himself this weekend. As Celtic get ready to face Aberdeen, the Hoops will do so without Neil Lennon.
As a result, Kennedy has been placed in interim charge after the Northern Irishman chose to resign from his post. It’s been a long time coming but hopefully, this will be the fresh start everyone at Parkhead needs.
On the chalkboard
One man in need of rediscovering himself under a new manager is Ryan Christie. The attacker has had a disappointing campaign and hasn’t been able to build on a 2019/20 campaign where he scored 20 times in all competitions.
By comparison, Christie has found the net on only five occasions this season. It’s been a torrid few months for the Scot who has scored once in his last 23 outings.
His worst performance arguably came against Ross County in the club’s 1-0 defeat last weekend. Christie was fielded as a striker but had a woeful day in front of goal. He spurned a succession of chances – four in total – misfiring each and every one of them off target.
The worst came nine minutes before half time when he blazed an effort out of the ground from just a matter of yards out.
The solution
Like Lennon, Christie needs some time away to compose himself and rediscover his best football. It’s clearly not happening for him and thus, Kennedy must take the bold decision for his first game in charge of dropping the Scotland international.
If he retains the same formation as last week, then fielding Albian Ajeti instead certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea.
The Swiss striker’s move from West Ham hasn’t gone entirely according to plan. He scored five in his opening ten matches for the club, being described by Chris Sutton as a “ruthless finisher.”
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However, since then, Ajeti has beaten the goalkeeper just once, a desperate run extending back to the end of September.
That being said, he rediscovered some confidence in the 4-0 win over Kilmarnock a few weeks ago. The forward won a penalty for his team and then scored a sumptuous fourth goal for the Bhoys.
Scott Brown played a long ball over the top which Ajeti took down beautifully, turned his marker and then buried the opportunity. It was a rare flash of quality from a man who has been struggling in the British game.
He has played three times since without scoring but what Ajeti needs is a run of games. He linked up well with Odsonne Edouard vs Killie and more of the same could generate all three points on Saturday afternoon.
After Christie’s poor day in front of goal, it can’t get much worse than that. The £13.5k-per-week Ajeti deserves to be unleashed more often.
AND in other news, 47 y/o eyed as surprise Neil Lennon successor, he could make £3m Celtic maestro a star…