Play fair, Stevie
Lennon riled at Christie’s Scots shifts
NEIL LENNON admits he’s not too chuffed with Steve Clarke for failing to give Ryan Christie a breather during Scotland’s gruelling international week.
The Hoops boss was relieved to avoid a repeat of the drama
of the last break when Odsonne Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem Elhamed all returned with Covid and Christie ended up in qquarantine.
But he believes the Scotland boss could have gone easier on his playmaker – who was one oof only three players to ststart all three games last week, along with Kieran Tierney and John McGinn.
Serbia goal hero Christie bbust a gut for 85 minutes in Belgrade then full 90s in ththe Nations League defeats bby Slovakia and Israel.
Lennon insisted the attacker is raring to go against Hibs today but he was unhappy with the national gaffer.
He said: “Well he didn’t rerest Ryan – that didn’t pplease me. It was three 90 minutes in six days which is a big ask for any individual.
“Steve tried to balance his squad as best he could but it looked like he didn’t want to play without Ryan in the games.
“I can’t be over-critical of it but we would have liked him to have missed some of the games anyway but he’s played in all three.”
Lennon insisted Christie won’t complain though and he can sense the Scotland feelgood factor in his squad on the back of qualifying for the Euros.
And he said: “Ryan is fine, he had a bit of a bump on his thigh but has trained and is OK.
“He’ll be full of confidence, there is a feelgood factor with Scotland qualifying with Ryan, Callum McGregor, Greg Taylor and Leigh
Griffiths all having a big say in it. It’s maybe a time to keep him going, I’m sure down the line you’ll need to rest him or change things up but I don’t feel the need to do that at the moment.
“When you are getting humped you come back down in the dumps – I’ve experienced that myself.
“But certainly on this occasion it has been brilliant for them and there is a huge incentive for them to maintain their form throughout the season with having a big tournament at the end of it.”
Lennon suffered a nightmare in September with his squad left in tatters after national service.
But his troops have all reported back for duty and he wants to build up a head of steam with the international game in hibernation until March.
The champions face Hibs at Easter Road today and Lennon is looking to eat in to Rangers’ nine-point lead.
He added: “We have a clean bill of health, no Covid problems, no physical problems, so are very much looking forward to playing again. We have a hell of a run of games between now and the end of the year.”