Neil Lennon has explained the enforced half-time change to his side in the 3-0 win over St Johnstone last night.
Moritz Bauer replaced Jozo Simunovic at the break as Lennon’s side switched to a back four after playing the first half with three central defenders.
Simunovic has been dogged by injury problems since he joined Celtic in 2015 with Lennon revealing that his knee is still causing problems despite being operated on in September.
Speaking to Radio Scotland after the match Lennon explained (19 minutes)
We had an enforced change because of Jozo. He’s been out for four months and he’s got a knee problem. He has battled through the last four games unbelievably well for us but he just couldn’t continue and we had to change the shape.
Simunovic played on the plastic pitch at Kilmarnock last week but going on Lennon’s comments it sounds like he is unlikely to be involved in Sunday’s match away to Hamilton Accies.
Hatem Abd Elhamed and Nir Bitton are both out injured leaving the untried Stephen Welsh as the next available central defender.
There has been speculation throughout the season about Celtic making a move to bring in Jozo Simunovic with the Leicester defender still to be fixed up despite reports of interest from Derby County and Middlesbrough.
