Lenny’s Retro Tactics – ‘I like my goalkeepers to keep the ball out of the net’

WHO do you think is Celtic’s best goalkeeper, Scott Bain or Craig Gordon? It’s a question that Neil Lennon has been asking himself, now that Gordon is fit again and able to play. He will be in goals this evening in Tallinn although he probably won’t have as busy a 90 minutes as he had in his last competitive game for Celtic, at Ibrox on 29 December.

Gordon was outstanding that afternoon as the Celtic players in front of him failed to turn up, probably due to not having 7500 Celtic supporters behind them in the Free Broomloan. The Rangers won 1-0, although Callum McGregor, who Brendan Rodgers played at left back (as exclusively revealed on The Celtic Star incidentally), grabbed a late equaliser that was judged to have been offside.

Had the circumstance been reversed, that flag probably would not have been raised.

Anyway, Celtic were awful that day and Craig Gordon put in perhaps one of his best shifts in a Celtic goalkeeper’s jersey. His reward from Rodgers was to be dropped with Scott Bain, regarded as being better with the ball at his feet, coming in after the winter break and staying there ever since, until this evening.

Rodgers left at the end of February as BR-Exit rocked Paradise, but Neil Lennon came in, steadied the ship and won the league and Scottish Cup to complete the Treble Treble. He phased out the Rodgers loan signings and gave priority to the Celtic stars but in goals he was denied the chance to make any sort of decision as to who might be his favoured keeper due to a knee injury Gordon picked up in training.

It wasn’t that long ago that Gordon committed himself to Celtic, amid interest from Chelsea. He’s now fit and will ready to challenge Scott Bain for the gloves. The decision on who wins that particular contest will be determined not by the criteria set by Rodgers involving distribution of the ball from feet but by the good, old fashioned notion that the best keeper at keeping the ball out of the Celtic net wins!

It’s an old fashioned, no-nonsense notion from the Retro-Celtic manager, an out of date idea that it’s best to play a shot-stopper in goals.

So if Scott Bain wins the best at distribution award at tippy happy Celtic, that is suddenly less important. So who is the best shot stopper? It’s a close call that one and Neil Lennon is paid to decide. It will be fascinating to see which way it goes.

On the fancy footwork from his keepers, Lenny is clear that it’s much less of an issue for him.

“It’s far less a factor for me,” the Celtic manager said to the media, as reported by Evening Times. “I like my goalkeepers to keep the ball out of the net. I’ve got two who are very, very good at that.

“Craig has really impressed me in training and in the bounce games that we’ve played, and Scott has been brilliant for me. Since I came in, he’s been absolutely outstanding.

“They are quality players, we’re talking about Craig Gordon here, Scotland’s number one for a long, long time. So, it’s not as if we are taking the tie lightly, we’re just giving some good players who haven’t had the opportunity to play a chance to play.”

So Gordon gets his chance tonight to play under Neil Lennon in a competitive match and he’ll be hugely disappointed if he doesn’t achieve a clean-sheet. Keeping the ball out of the Celtic net is what he knows pleases this Celtic manager, much more than the last guy it appears.

“I wouldn’t say (Gordon is second-choice), it’s too early for me to make that assessment,” Lenny said.

“He didn’t play when I came in due to a knee problem, but he’s over that now and he’s training well, so we’ll see how we go with the two of them.

“It’s something that we’ll gauge as we go along. I’m not going to treat Scott Bain badly. If he’s performing well, as he has done, then it’s not a difficult thing to keep the momentum going that way,” the Celtic manager said.

Asked how he’ll eventually make his decision Lenny reckons he’ll just trust his own judgment and listen to his goalkeeping coach, who was the man who championed the signing of Scott Bain when asked by Rodgers who he’d like to work with. The answer given was Carson from Motherwell and Bain from Dundee and we all know how that turned out.

“Probably gut instinct as we go along, and Stevie Woods will be important in that as well.

“I don’t want to turn this into a p***ing match between the two of them. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on either one of them.

“I’ve got the luxury of having two very good goalkeepers at the minute, and if called upon, I’m sure either of them will come in and do a terrific job for me.”

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

Comments are closed.