Neil Lennon has admitted that Olivier Ntcham is too good a player not to be in his starting XI.
The problem for the Frenchman is the form of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie.
Midfield has been the strongest area of the Celtic side since Lennon’s first spell at the club when Victor Wanyama was competing with Scott Brown, Ki Sung Yueng, Joe Ledley and Beram Kayal for a place.
Brown has outlasted them all with McGregor emerging over the last few years with Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic having a big impact on the recent successes.
Last season Ntcham looked out of sorts for much of the time but on the outside looking in he has made an impact with his first goal against Partick Thistle on Wednesday night unlikely to be bettered all season.
At today’s media conference Lennon said:
I do like him in an advanced attacking position. At times you look at him and think that he is too good a player not to be starting or getting game time. He’s French, so he’s a bit moody sometimes but not in a bad way. He’s been a little bit inconsistent but you can see, in some of his performances this season what an exceptional talent he can be.
I’m delighted to have him in the squad and able to work with him, delighted to see two quality goals. His first goal, he can do that more, we’ve been trying to encourage the midfield players to do that; Christie, McGregor, Oli, maybe not so much Broony, to shoot more from outside the box if the opportunity arises. He’s taken that onboard and got his reward with two good goals.
Ntcham is expected to be on the bench against Hibs tomorrow with Brown and Christie restored to the starting XI.
