NEIL LENNON hasn’t got many wingers to choose from at the moment but even when he had an abundance of options in the wide positions, none came close to matching James Forrest in the manager’s affection. Forrest was given his debut by Neil Lennon all those years ago and has been a regular in the Celtic team ever since, winning an unbelievable tally of honours along the way.
He’d even started to get his own song – Jamesy Forrest is here for Ten in a Row – that one repossessed from the Rat, but it has somewhat died away recently after a few games when the winger was off the boil. He was however looking back to near his best on Wednesday night in that 3-5-2 wingback role – who would have thought it?
Jamesie’s performance at McDiarmid Park certainly impressed his boss.
“I thought James Forrest was great the other night against St Johnstone. He was dynamic, scored a great goal, his assist for the first goal was great and his work-rate was great,” Neil Lennon told the Media, as reported by Scottish Sun.
“I felt he played with real freedom. That’s the James Forrest I love.
“He’s such an important player. That’s 15 goals for the season which is a great return, I want him to get to at least 20 by the end of the campaign.
“James has been outstanding. Sometimes when he doesn’t play well people can be critical, but that’s because he sets a really high standard.
“Before the last (the) Rangers game he had played a lot of games. That has to take its toll.
“Look at his record in previous O** F*** matches, I’d say it was pretty good. The amount of goals and assists he’s had, as well as the wins.
“Jamesy is a big game player. Alright, he didn’t have one of his better games that day but we make too big an issue of it at times. That’s really unfair on a player that has been unbelievably good for this club for such a long time.
“I always think homegrown players get it a little bit more, for some reason. People have short memories. Forrest is entitled to a bad couple of days now and again, but I don’t think he gets cut the same slack as others do.
“He’s just a quiet kid but he’s had such a successful career.
“Jamesy comes in, plays his football, does his training and goes home again. What’s wrong with that? He’s a manager’s dream. I did enquire about him when I was at Bolton, but there was no chance.
“Celtic weren’t interested in letting him go. I’ve got a great relationship with him and long may it continue. Could Forrest be a one-club man? I don’t know, but I do know I’m not going to sell him.”
The Celtic manager was delighted with the way his team started at Perth and is looking for the same again at Hamilton this afternoon in the early kick-off. He knows that a similar kind of performance today will secure the three points and extend Celtic’s lead at the top of the table to a Magnificent Seven points after the Rangers blinked again yesterday in the goalless draw against Aberdeen.
“We have to show the right attitude all the time, whether it’s the start of the season, through January, February, March or after the split,” Lenny said.
“Every game, try to get the right approach, try to get the right motivation, try to start like we did last Wednesday, and maintain it for 90 minutes.
“They were a little bit flat in the first half against Ross County but against St Johnstone we got an unbelievable performance from them.
“It was possibly a reaction to the County game, but the thing is teams are allowed to create chances against you! This is what our fans need to understand at times. Sometimes teams will get in, sometimes teams will score a goal.
“It’s about the reaction and every time we’ve conceded this season, our reaction has been good. They don’t panic, there’s no anxiety, they just get on with it.
“We don’t throw anyone under a bus, we stay together, we get back in the game and go and win it.”
Incidentally here’s the front page of today’s Sunday Mail, after all, half price travel with citylink isn’t to be sniffed at and Jenna reveals the truth about her and Brendan (not that one!)….
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