He’s almost become a forgotten man on the Celtic forums, but today a certain Boli Bolingoli started for Celtic in the shocking defeat to Livingston.
The Belgian left-back made his last league appearance for Celtic in the 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock in August 2020, where he featured for just three minutes at Rugby Park.
Almost 14 months have passed, in which Celtic have overseen a new manager, disappointing losses to various sides and a whole host of players have come and gone.
So it was somewhat surreal to see Bolingoli’s inclusion today, in what was a sombre reminder of just how much Celtic have progressed since his last appearance.
“We’ve put Boli Bolingoli in because, to be fair to him, he’s been working hard and waiting for an opportunity and he’s got one today,”
His infamous COVID-19 fiasco led to his temporary loan to Istanbul Basaksehir, where he played just 12 league games after suffering a long-term knee injury – but given Greg Taylor’s injury, he was installed back into the first-team today under Ange.
And the Aussie claimed he was more than deserving of a place in the starting XI after working extremely hard in training.
“We’ve put Boli Bolingoli in because, to be fair to him, he’s been working hard and waiting for an opportunity and he’s got one today,” Ange said in his pre-match interview.
Try as he might, it wasn’t to be Celtic’s day nor Bolingoli’s – a third away defeat in a row has been met with clear criticism by Celtic fans across the globe.
But Bolingoli wasn’t actually that bad today, despite not being Taylor or Montgomery. Perhaps judgement should be reserved until he has a run in the side instead of being reactionary.
Not before Montgomery not a patch on his input or influence on the game
One of Celtic’s better performers yesterday. But that is not saying much. Is that the real Celtic we saw yesterday? It is easier to believe that than the Angeball theory. Just a tired new version of last year. It was a disgrace from start to finish actually shameful against possibly the worst team in the league. I don’t expect Celtic to get more than 5 points from the next 4 matches. Ange will then be battered from pillar to post before being out the door by Christmas. The writing is already on the wall. He must be having the worst start to a season of any Celtic manager. # defeats in 6 games. 32 games left and Celtic will need 90-94 points to win the league. There are only 96 points to play for. It just ain’t gonna happen. The pressure will pile on from now. This Celtic team do not have the bottle or experience to cope.