Lennon is frustrated by Covid-19 call-offs
Celtic boss Neil Lennon insists the football authorities must reconsider player safety issues around Covid-19 during international breaks.
The champions could be without four players for the Old Firm derby against Rangers at Parkhead tomorrow.
Israel duo Ni rB it ton and Hatem Elhamed and Scotland midfielder Ryan Christie will all miss out with coronavirus issues. Odsonne Edouard has been in quarantine since testing positive while with France Under -21 sand although he will be back in Glasgow in time, must be considered a doubt after his period of selfisolation.
Lennon said: "It can't go on the way it is going because we are losing too many players. Not just us, but a lot of other clubs as well. Even countries. Look at the Czech Republic for example, in the previous round they had to completely change the squad.
"It totally dilutes the quality and integrity of the competition.
"It is very difficult for me to say you are not going to play for your country, that is something that I would never want to do to a player. But these are unprecedented times and we are in a very difficult situation.
"So ideally we don' t want them to travel, but we are not going to point the finger at them and say you can't go."
Ahead of the first Old Firm derby of the year, which will be played behind closed doors due to corona virus restrictions, Rangers lead the champions by a point having played a game more.
However, Lennon - whose side have won their last eight games - insists it is too early for any conclusions to be drawn from the result.
He said: "It is way too early. We had this conversation after we won at Ibrox last year and after we lost at Celtic Park in December. It didn't pan out the way that people assumed it was going to or predicted. We are on a good run and we want to maintain that consistency.”
St Mirr en manager Jim Good win, meanwhile, has praised his players for the way they have handled their latest coronavirus disruption.
Saints have lost three players for tomorrow’ s Scottish Premiership visit of Motherwell after two tested positive for Covid-19 and another was instructed to self-isolate.
The Paisley side previously lost all three goalkeepers at the same time and had to bring in Zdenek Zlamal from Hearts to play three games on loan.
Good win said :“We have a small enough squad as it is and we just got a couple back in after injury then lose another three. We are not naming the players right now but it will probably be obvious at the weekend. Two out of the three are big players for us. I have got to give great credit to the squad and the staff because it is very unsettling when a couple of your team-mates test positive. It’s an anxious time for everyone but the players have dealt with it great.”
A total of 11 players across the two combatants at Parkhead tomorrow could be given their first taste of Scottish football’s most storied encounter. As the below list demonstrates, it could go any way for the firsttimers...
Moussa Dembele, Scottish Premiership, Celtic 5 Rangers 1, September 10, 2016
The ultimate first appearance in the fixture, the Frenchman netted the perfect hattrick-right foot, left foot, header - to ensure a memorable first such contest for both the recently arrived striker and his boss Brendan Rodgers. The triple stands as the only one net ted in a league meeting between the pair across 54 years, Stevie Chalmers bagging the previous one, in 1966.
Philip Senderos, Scottish Premiership, Celtic 5 Rangers 1, September 10, 2016
The Swiss international endured an afternoon the antithesis of the one enjoyed by Dembele. Featuring for the first time in Rangers colours following a two week trial, the 31-year- old had stated it was a “no brainer” to join such a big club. He then showed no brains as he was at fault for all of Celtic’s first three goals before leaving Mark Warburton’s bedraggled side against it for the final 15 minutes after he collected a second booking fora bonkers handball. No great surprise that he played only three more games for the Ibrox side.
Andy Hal li day, Scottish Cup semi-final, Rangers 2 Celtic 2 (Rangers win 5-4 on pens), April 17, 2016
The midfielder may have become a figure of fun for Celtic supporters later in his Rangers career, but he had the first laugh at Hamp den four-and-a-half years ago. The boy hood supporter of the Ibrox club revelled in the
occasion. He proved the fulcrum as Rangers passed their rivals off the park. To top that, he showed a nervelessness to take his team’s opening penalty of a first shoot-out in a major competition between the pair which Rangers eventually edged.
Patrick Roberts, Scottish Cup semi-final, Rangers 2 Celtic 2 (Rangers win 5-4 on pens), April 17, 2016
The on-loan Manchester City winger became so exasperated by countless reminders of what befell him in a semifinal that ushered in the end of Ronny Deila’s time he would groan “not again”, whenever it was raised. What did befall him was that the diminutive attacker contrived to miss an open goal from only a couple of yards out. An outrageous aberration pivotal in Celtic’s penalty shoot-out defeat that afternoon, he more than made amends by being a member of the club’s invincible treble squad the following season.
Jak Alnwick, Scottish Premiership, Celtic 5 Rangers 0, April 29, 2018
A keeper that concedes five goals against his club’ s bitter est rival son the afternoon they clinch an eighth consecutive title would ordinarily be thought to have had a horrible derby debut. Yet, the Englishman was adjudged to be Rangers’ best performer in the grimmest of circumstances. Indeed, it is doubtful that he ever made more goal-stopping saves across his 11 appearances for the Ibrox club.
Odsonne Edouard, Scottish Premiership, Rangers 2 Celtic 3, March 11, 2018
The only substitute debu - tant on our list, the Frenchman may only have entered the fray 67 minutes into a dramatic see -saw encounter at Ibroxtwo-and-a-half years ago. By jimminy, though, he made those minutes count for a visiting side then down to 10-men following Jozo Simunovic’s straight red card. Within 120 seconds of his arrival, he had grabbed what proved to be the winner, with the Ibrox men unable to live with his forcing, nimble power plays. Not for the last time…
El Hadji Diouf, Scottish Cup fifth round, Rangers 2 Celtic 2, February 6, 2011
The controversial Blackburn Rovers loanee left an indelible mark on the derby fixture in R angers colours. In his first appearance against Celtic since spitting on a homes upporter playing for Liverpool during a Uefa Cup tie at Parkhead in 2003, he wound up Scott Brown so much with trash talk about his bank balance and renown, the Celtic captain’s equaliser sparked an outstretched-arm celebration in the Senegal international’s face that became known as the Bro onie. Theb ad blood between the clubs boiled over in the replay wherein the striker went utterly rogue, the overthe -top fall- out leading to a Scottish government summit.
Scott Sinclair, Scottish Premiership, Celtic 5 Rangers 1, September 10, 2016
Another Celtic player who achieved instant hero status in the derby environment of the 2016 ‘5-1 game’. As the champions dished out a doing to their ancient adversaries in the pair’s first league meeting subsequent to Rangers working their way up the leagues following liquidation in 2012, the £4.5m signing from Aston Villa showed the occasion was to his liking with a goal and scintillating display. It was to prove the first of four strikes from him in derby meetings that season.
Declan John, Scottish Premiership, Celtic 0 Rangers 0, December 30, 2017
Many will have forgotten Rangers ever had the leftback on loan from Cardiff. The Welshman, though, was crucial to stopping the bleeding for the Ibrox side in the derby. No - one gave Graeme Murty’s men an earthly when they travelled across the city for the festive fixture, but he was rock solid in a defence that more than held firm to bring up R angers’ first clean sheet in 13 face-offs with their foes.
Christopher Jullien, Scottish Premiership, Rangers 0 Celtic 2, September 1, 2019
Celtic were supposed to be lambs to the slaughter in the first derby of last term. Defensive woes had dogged them with the £7 m signing from Toulouse cited as the principal reason for their vulnerability. Instead, the Frenchman produced a towering display as Celtic snuffed out their rivals.