What Lenny said to Sammy

Without doubt Georgios Samaras has been the most talked about Celtic player of the season.

At one stage it was said that the Celtic support was divided in it’s opinion of the former Manchester City striker. What can never be doubted is Neil Lennon’s unswerving faith in Sammy.

Celtic’s 4-2 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox in September was one of the low points of the year with even Samaras’ strongest backers struggling to make a case for his performance that day.

There looked to be no way back for the 25-year-old as Celtic’s season imploded but Lennon kept the faith and even came up with the line ‘He could get me the sack’ when quizzed at the club’s AGM.

Since the 3-1 win over Rennes in the Europa League Samaras has been a key player in Celtic’s resurgent form with Lennon admitting that some straight talking after the Ibrox defeat has transformed the player from zero to hero.

“I had a chat with Sammy as I was disappointed with his performance at Ibrox,” the Celtic boss revealed looking ahead to tonight’s derby clash.

“Since then he’s been excellent and instrumental in this run. He said to me he wanted a consistent run of games. I said to him that I wanted a consistent run of performances.

“He’s shown a lot of character to come through the sticky spell when the fans were on his back.”

Samaras on the left and James Forrest on the right has provided Lennon with a winning formula whether they’ve been supporting one or two strikers.

Both wide men were substituted during the 2-1 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday but Lennon is hopeful that Forrest will be fit for tonight’s match.

The Celtic boss added: “Forrest is feeling fatigue in both hamstrings. It might be a problem stemming from his back. We tried to drip feed him into the team at first but he’s mature enough to play in any given situation.

“He is a special talent and one we need to look after. He’s an explosive player and it’s the way his mechanics work as well.

“We’ve had him sent down to London to see specialists. They have provided orthotic footwear to take the pressure off that area. It’s worked very well. We don’t have many in Scotland who can get people off their seats like him.”

CLICK HERE for Kenny Clark slams Rangers cynical appeal

CLICK HERE for Ally McCoist considers McCulloch appeal

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