As Neil Lennon sat down to face the media at Lennoxtown this afternoon, he must have expected a variety of questions ranging from injuries, Olivier Ntcham returning to training and how Celtic would set up versus Sarajevo. Here’s How Celtic got on at training today and then there are some snippets from Lenny media conference – you can watch the entire video at the end.
Sarajevo
The press pack duly responded, speaking to the Celtic Official website, the manager detailed how he planned to build on the 3-1, whilst giving Sarajevo their due respect.
“We want to go out and try and win the game, not be complacent, and show the opposition respect.”
“We can’t take any team lightly in this competition. It’s a nice lead, but the tie isn’t over yet. Hopefully we can be sharper and fitter than we were last week.”
Griffiths & Edouard Partnership
“Going forward, I could see Odsonne and Leigh as a potential partnership up front as they’re two very good players.
“When Griff gets up to speed. that’s obviously an option. He has worked very hard and it was great to see him out on the grass on Saturday. He’s a work-in-progress in terms of fitness, but we’re delighted to have him back.”
The Ntcham Meeting
The Irishman addressed concerns about Olivier Ntcham’s comments in L’Equipe about wanting to leave the 8-in-a-row Champions. Apparently it’s all a big misunderstanding and poor old Olivier’s words got Lost in Translation. Yeah right.
“He was disappointed with the way it came across, that wasn’t his intention,” Lenny said, probably biting his tongue.
“We have had a nice chat – a private chat – and it’s not an issue now. He is back in the group and training and getting ready for the new season.”
Or another translation, “he is our player, he wants away, we know that, but we want to maximise the transfer fee we achieve for him after giving him a brilliant new deal only last October.”
Ntcham is very much in the shop window, but there will be no ‘Soldes d’été in Paradise. Here’s Lenny’s full media conference where there’s plenty of chat about Arsenal embarrassing themselves with their undervalued bids for one of the two best left backs in British football.
Ask them to call Liverpool and see how much Andy Robertson would cost. Rockets!
Meanwhile can we mention again the powerful and brilliantly written Celtic diary from Matt Corr the morning on The Celtic Star? It combines the joy of watching Celtic with the absolute horrors that those people in Sarajevo had to endure while telling the story of a wonderfully friendly city who appreciated everything about Celtic too.
If you only read one other thing related to Celtic today make sure it’s this diary titled ‘Something inside, so strong…the spirit of Miss Sarajevo,’ Matt Corr’s Diary, Dedicated to the victims of the Siege of Sarajevo and the massacre at Srebrenica.
