You usually see a new manager making a concerted effort to make changes to the starting XI when they take over, but John Kennedy has been with this squad for a while so sweeping changes would’ve been a surprise.
It was always going to be interesting to see how he decided to approach the game against Aberdeen today, and there are a couple of talking points from this team selection:
📋 #CelticFC 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 🍀
Here's how the Celts line up for #CELABE ⬇️
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 27, 2021
Klimala starting the game is the main surprise as he’s generally limited to sub appearances, so there could be an effort here to see the players in action ahead of the summer.
It’s especially interesting because you have to think that Kennedy’s main motivation will be going on a run of wins to put himself in contention for the permanent role, but hopefully he will try out a few of the fringe players so we can see what they can do.
Two of the bigger scapegoats this season have been Scott Brown and Ryan Christie due to their inconsistent performances, and it does look like a few of the fans were hoping for some more radical changes today:
Same old same old ……bottled it 🇮🇪☘️
— JungleLion (@JungleLion_) February 27, 2021
Meet the new boss 🤝 same as the old boss.
— Swed🍀 (@Swedleypops) February 27, 2021
Christie and brown? Jesus wept.
— stephen hamill (@shamill101) February 27, 2021
Unbelievable. Brown still getting picked at 35. It’s clear now Kennedy was part of the problem.
— Paul Campbell (@Baltimore76) February 27, 2021
I feel wee bit opportunity missed to put his own stamp on the team. Feel team needs energy of griff on the park, I would even have been happy for 3 up top. Nothing really exciting there.
— Bobby D (@BobbyDi44578417) February 27, 2021
Good to see Christie get another chance 🙄🙈
— Ross Cooper (@Rwcoops3) February 27, 2021
It will be interesting to see if there’s a noticeable change to the way the team play on the pitch or the effort levels, but it mainly looks like Kennedy has done with those that he trusts regardless of recent form.