Will Neil Lennon use Sunday’s League Cup Semi-final with Falkirk to re-launch the Celtic career of Kris Commons?
Twelve months ago the midfielder snubbed Rangers to join Celtic in a £400,000 deal from Derby County and immediately impressed his new followers as Celtic raced into a 4-0 half-time lead against Aberdeen at Hampden.
Commons took just five minutes to open his Celtic account with a spectacular chipped shot from the corner of the penalty box.
Things could hardly have gone any better for Commons on a personal level over the remaining months of the season as he scored 14 goals and Celtic belatedly found themselves a penalty taker into the bargain.
No one could have predicted how badly the new season could have gone for Commons, certainly not the player or his manager.
In sporadic appearances he hasn’t really looked his old self- until Saturday at St Mirren.
Thrown into the fray alongside Anthony Stokes the introduction of Commons gave Celtic real purpose down the left and a four man strike force when the hoops pushed forward with James Forrest on the right.
“Stokesy and Kris gave us a bit of impetus,” Lennon admitted after steering Celtic to their 12th successive SPL win.
“Kris has been out for a while but he has been working hard in training and he is looking more and more like himself again. I thought he was terrific.”
Commons looked to be close to the player that Celtic found last January- the perfect window signing who hits the ground running.
Saturday’s return to Hampden will provide Lennon with plenty to think about against First Division.
Without doubt the words Ross and County will predictably feature in the build up to the match but the squad that Lennon takes to Hampden will be unrecognisable from the one that he took to the National Stadium 21 months ago.
If Commons is back in the side Georgios Samaras looks to be the obvious fall-guy which will be a big decision for the Celtic boss to make.
Samaras appears to have found the ideal position in the Celtic side over the last two months but can’t compete with Commons when it comes to finding the net or bringing direction and purpose to the left hand side of the park.
Last week at St Mirren Commons found himself sitting on the bench alongside Emilio Izaguirre with Joe Ledley picked at left-back.
Sunday’s match against Falkirk could see the return of the Izaguirre-Commons partnership. With the stakes getting higher and with three trophies on offer the return to form of the former Derby man could make all the difference to Celtic’s silverware ambitions.
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