Johan Mjallby
When Johan Mjallby left Celtic for Levante in 2004 his departure was overshadowed by another Swede moving on to La Liga.
For over three seasons Mjallby formed part of the toughest, meanest defence in Celtic’s history alongside Bobo Balde and Joos Valgaeren.
Standards have slipped since those heady days but at Easter Road on Sunday there was a glimpse of the past, and hopefully the future, when Kelvin Wilson made his long awaited debut.
The former Nottingham Forest defender hadn’t started a competitive match in more than six months but quickly imposed himself on the match with some timely interceptions that were as well received by his team-mates as they were by the visiting support.
For over a year Neil Lennon and Mjallby had been waiting to see Wilson in their side with the 27-year-old’s debut meeting with Mjallby’s approval.
“I was very impressed with Kelvin on Sunday,” the Celtic coach admitted. “He’s got great recovery pace and that was something we’d been missing.
“The way we play it’s important to have pace at the back. He showed straight away that he’s a very good centre-half.”
Wilson’s inclusion meant that Daniel Majstorovic missed out with central defence the most competitive area in the Celtic squad with Charlie Mulgrew and Thomas Rogne all fighting for places in the side.
Before Celtic travel to Aberdeen in the SPL the club has four friendly matches with Mjallby delighted by the number of defensive options at the club.
He added: “That’s what you dream about, it’s healthy to have competition. I don’t think anyone can say Daniel Majstorovic is a poor centre-half.
“He missed out on Sunday but he came in very late to pre-season so we have to be a bit clever and make sure players don’t break down. He will certainly get some game time in the friendly games coming up.
“Ideally you want a partnership you can stick with but you never know about injuries and suspensions. Last season we had too many partnerships at the heart of defence. Both slots are definitely up for grabs.
“The two who played on Sunday did very well together and kept a clean sheet which I was delighted with but the defence needs to have an improved goal for this season as well.
“We conceded 22 goals last season and the goal this term for them must be to concede less than 20.”
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ANOTHER GEM signing by Mr Lennon? It looks like a distinct possibility, he will have tougher games for sure but i think we just might have conceded a goal if he wasn’t playing sunday.
Mr Lennon has brought us fantastic players like Kayal, Ki, Izzy, Hooper, Ledley & Wilson? (if he can consistently play like he did against Hibs) for ridiculously low prices, add to that the improved performances he got from Brown, M.Wilson, Forest and a couple of others last season and Mr Lennon is looking like he has real potential to have a long and successful managerial career.
Exciting times at paradise.
1NL