Will Neil Lennon play the Samaras card at Ibrox on Sunday or go for glory with on-form Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes.
The return to fitness of Georgios Samaras gives the Celtic boss some options to think over as he prepares his side for Sunday’s return trip to Ibrox.
At the turn of the year Celtic and Lennon’s fortune’s took a turn for the better as Celtic matched up to Rangers 4-5-1 formation with Samaras striking his first SPL goals of the season.
Whether that tactic can be repeated or left in the history books will occupy the Celtic boss over the weekend.
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To some extent circumstances forced Lennon’s hand the last time at Ibrox with Scott Brown and Gary Hooper unavailable but no one forecast that Charlie Mulgrew would put in a powerful performance in left midfield or that James Forrest and Paddy McCourt would be so influential.
In similar circumstances it would be very tempting to go with the same formation and personel on Sunday but even the most experienced of managers would think twice about taking Hooper and Murphy aside to tell them that their not starting.
After a few glimpses and false starts earlier in the season the Hooper-Stokes partnership has come into it’s own scoring 9 times in the last 5 matches.
Both players ‘put in a shift’ defensively and aren’t shy about rolling up their sleeves to help out in midfield.
Rangers are almost certain to go with a 4-5-1 with their main strength coming in midfield.
Scott Brown’s introduction as a right sided midfielder over the last few matches has given the Celtic midfield a more solid look with Kris Commons already forming a good understanding of his duties down the left in tandem with Emio Izaguirre.
In their present form and with Samaras lacking match fitness I’m certain that Lennon will stick with the forward partnership that have been so prolific in recent weeks with Samaras a useful option to have on the bench.
MY CELTIC TEAM: Forster; Wilson, Majstorovic, Mulgrew, Izaguirre; Brown, Kayal, Ledley, Commons; Stokes, Hooper SUBS Zaluska, Samaras, Murphy, Juarez, Ki
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What’s he worth- Gary Hooper
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