Neil Lennon has hailed Efe Ambrose’ Celtic debut as one of the best he’s ever seen.
The Nigerian was signed on transfer deadline day as the latest solution to Celtic’s central defensive problem.
After a delay getting his work permit through the 23-year-old started his first match as a defensive midfielder and made a big impression.
Looking comfortable on the ball he pinged passes around while showing an occasional Roy Aitken like ability to burst forward.
“Ambrose’ debut was as good a debut as you’ll see,” Lennon admitted. “He was composed, has good pace to his game and played really well.
“He’s very comfortable on the ball, deceptively quick and powerful. He showed all the attributes why we bought him.
“He can play in a number of positions but we felt that tonight in midfield was the time to bed him in- he looked like he had played there for years.”
Four goal Gary Hooper stole the headlines but the play of James Forrest, Dylan McGeouch and Tony Watt were major factors in Hooper’s goal rush.
McGeouch and Forrest, former Celtic Academy team-mates, attacked with purpose while Watt occupied the Raith defenders creating space for Hooper.
“In Hooper we have a phenomenal player,” Lennon added. “Not just his goals but his play in general was of a very high standard tonight.
“If you look at his record, he does score a lot of goals and it is the hardest thing to do, and he scores in the big games.
“He is a good footballer, an intelligent footballer, very quick over five or 10 yards, his touch is sublime at times.
“He has led the line brilliantly for us this season and I think he is good enough to play for England.
“At times he has had to play a little bit differently, particularly in Europe but all those aspects are building up to him being the all-round striker that he is. He thrives on goals, obviously, but his link-up play is fantastic and he is developing very well.”
CLICK HERE for EBT draft documents start to leak out
Follow Video Celts on Twitter and Facebook
Well done Mr Hooper, and let’s hope big Efe becomes a center-half superstar.
excellent news, we now have a center back who will knock the Efe out of anyone and is not a bomb scare
I think many people are being a wee bit premature here. Give the guy a chance. He looked very good last night but he was playing against lower level opponents. He had planty of time and space to make himself look very good indeed. It may be a little different in Moscow or even Motherwell.He does look good but people are always too quick to praise or condemn. Kelvin wilson has taken a good while to settle but there are signs that he may be a very effective player. Most would have had him run out of Celtic Park six months ago.
I agree about Wilson. I’ve always felt that some players can need two seasons to get used to Scotlands crazy football style.
have to agree. we as celtic fans love to promote the new desailly or ronaldinho but when they dont quite match up to the promised hype in under 3 months they are damned! Efe looked good and strolled it against Raith but eveyone looked good in my opinion… The real test is the reason why he came here, the spl… hehe!
Can you imagine playing a 4 2 3 1 with vic and efe sitting in front of the back 4 , awesome thought.
Efe did look good last night but as has been said, poor opposition, so early days yet. As for Wilson, Im sorry but he still looks decidedly dodgy to me.