Frimpong injury cause for concern says Lennon
Jeremie Frimpong will be assessed for possible ankle ligament damage after the Celtic defender was forced off in the 4-1 win at Motherwell.
The 18- year-old was caught high on the knee by a reckless studs-up challenge from Devante Cole that earned the striker a yellow card and his manager Neil Lennon said there are concerns over the injury. “I didn’t get a good view of it because Jerry’s back was to me but I saw the replay and he’s high and late. He’s in a lot of discomfort at the minute. It could be ligament damage, we don’t know yet. We will have to assess him over the next couple of days.”
Lennon has further fitness concerns overKri st offer Ajer after he also failed to see out the encounter with a recurrence of the groin problem that had kept him out for the past week. His return meant Shane Duffy initially dropping to the bench, but the Celtic manager sought to downplay the decision to leave both the Republic of Ireland captain and Odsonne Edouard out of the starting line-up following the poor showings from the pair in the calamitous 4-1 loss to Sparta Prague in Thursday’ s Europa League encounter in Glasgow.
“He felt it at half-time and battled on with it but he couldn’t continue. He
Neil Lennon refused to speculate on just how much he personally needed the winning display that his Celtic team delivered with the 4-1 success at Motherwell.
The 49-year-old has had his job prospects picked apart since the 4-1 mauling by Sparta Prague on Thursday. However, he preferred to focus on fundamentals from his players that brought only a second win in seven games and that were wholly absent against the Czechs. Which had resulted in him have “a few choice words” with his players.
“I don’t know [how much I needed that],” he said of the outcome.
“You always need a result at a club like this and I got the result and performance I was looking for. Look, we let ourselves down on Thursday. No question about that. So they have shown today what they are capable of doing and we just need that consistency in individual and team performance.
‘It was so much better today. You can talk about levels. We have a bit of work to do in Europe, and it may be too far for us now. "We’ll not give up trying but we have to be more consistent now. That’s a good barometer for us. Body language, work-rate, quality of play – it was all there. There is a lot to be positive about it. We didn’t panic. We don’t get too low and we don’t get too high. We have a lot of work to do and a long way to go in the season but to come away and score four is a good sign.”
Lennon said he has blocked out the personal criticism heaped his way in recent weeks. “It is not a problem. You get praised sometimes and you look at it and wonder what they’re talking about. Or you get criticised and you ignore it. I’m too long in the tooth now to get myself involved in that. My main focus is the team and the players and I think we have done a good job between Thursday and Sunday to get them back at it.”
The Mohamed Elyounoussi hat-trick wasn’t considered by Lennon as necessary atonement from the player following the furore over him being on his phone in the stand during the Sparta humbling. "There is analysis of everything we are doing at the minute. Elyounoussi on his phone and the body language and this, that and the other. I got what I wanted today. Elyounoussi scored a hat-trick after being criticised unreasonably for looking at a result on his phone the other night.
"I had a brief chat with him and he explained to me what had happened and that was the end of it. He is a top professional. I have no problem with his attitude or the way he behaves around the place. It was never an issue for me. I think that’s unfair but he has responded in the right way. We asked him at half-time to go and get the hat-trick he didn’t get in Lille [after scoring twice there] and it was a brilliant third goal.”
Meanwhile, Motherwell striker Devante Cole has been described as “very fortunate” for escaping with a yellow card for a challenge that could have done “serious damage” to Celtic’s Jeremie Frimpong.
The defender was forced off in the second half of Celtic’s 4-1 victory at Fir Park after failing to recover from the tackle, which saw the attacker put his studs into the knee of his young opponent. Sky Sports pundit James Mcfadden said on the live broadcast: “Cole is very fortunate. I think Frimpong is very fortunate that his whole weight isn’t planted. “There’s no doubt for me it’s a red card. He’s very lucky not to be sent off. “