Celtic legend claims John Kennedy will take the easy way out by not dropping struggling Celtic star this weekend

There will be times where a player just needs time to play their way back into form, but there also comes a point where they need to be left out.

Ryan Christie looks knackered and woefully short of confidence, but that hasn’t stopped him starting most games for Celtic and Scotland and it’s starting to become a big problem.

You know he’s always going to try hard so it’s nothing to do with a lack of effort, but there are other players who deserve to start ahead of him and a period out of the team could also do him good.

Football Insider spoke to Celtic legend Frank McAvennie to get his thoughts on the matter, and he agrees that Christie should be dropped, but he also thinks that Kennedy will take the easy way out by dropping a loanee instead:

“You look at him [Forrest] and you think ‘people were having a go at him last year. He keeps the width and that’s so important to the way Celtic play, Ryan Christie always comes in and Mohamed Elyounoussi on the other side, he cuts in.

“You need to have that width and it’s just a shame that we’ve missed him all season, he’s such a good player. Good luck to him, I hope he stays fit. We’re going to need him at Ibrox, that’s for sure.

“Because Elyounoussi is on loan he’ll be the one to miss out against Livingston but it should be Ryan, he’s not played well.”

At least Christie did get a goal against Falkirk so there’s always the slight chance that he’ll find confidence from that and his form may pick up, but it really does look like he needs to step aside.

A trio of Elyounoussi, Turnbull and Forrest behind the striker looks like the best option just now, so it will be interesting to see what Kennedy decides to do.

About Author

Still trying to figure out exactly why Vidar Riseth hammered the ball across his own goal line that night in Perth....

2 Comments

  1. Ryan Christie runs his heart on park not all about scoring more than him out of sorts but he does the dirty job tracking back Ryan puts the graft in hes a big part how we play

  2. Jim O'Rourke on

    Maybe last couple of seasons but this year his form and his work rate has been average at best, he’s not the only one but because he has been so good last couple of years it sticks out more