Lennon is happy to go with double jeopardy

THE sight of Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard combining up front for Celtic in recent matches has seemed almost a throwback to the lost era of strike partners. Back in Neil Lennon’s own playing days at Parkhead, he anchored the midfield behind an attacking pairing of Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton or John Hartson. The Celtic boss insists a return to the 3-5-2 set-up favoured by Martin O’Neill is not a backwards step. Recent performances, like the blowing away of St Johnstone in midweek, or the historic Europa League victory over Lazio in Rome, would suggest it remains a formidable formation in 2020. ‘It’s not like it’s a dinosaur thing, it’s still very effective at times,’ said Lennon. ‘Inter Milan play with two strikers and they’re doing okay. I don’t see any issue with it at all. ‘It’s a formation I’ve used as a manager and I played ten years in it under Martin O’Neill and a few other teams played that way. ‘There’s nothing genius about it. You just look at your personnel and look at how you can maybe get three midfielders, two strikers and a bit of width in the team while still being strong at the back. ‘The players seem comfortable with it and Odsonne and Leigh are two very intelligent players. Maybe there’s a partnership there that can do well. ‘The formation is not perfect by any means — no formation is — but we’ve used it over the course of the season, like against Lazio, and it worked for us then as well. ‘That (4-3-3) may go out at some stage and two strikers might come back in fashion again, I don’t know. ‘Probably the one formation that really doesn’t get used now is 4-4-2, with the way players are trained and developed at a young age. But that may raise its head again somewhere down the line, you never know. ‘But, for me, it’s about the right personnel for the right occasion.’ Whether pitched in alongside Edouard or up front on his own, Griffiths has enjoyed a strong start to 2020 after his annus horriblis of 2019. He has scored three goals in his last four games, with his strike which rounded off the scoring in the 3-0 win at McDiarmid Park in midweek his 110th Celtic goal. Lennon cannot be certain whether he will return to being the player who scored 40 goals for Celtic in season 2015-16, or rocketed two fine free-kicks past England keeper Joe Hart at Hampden in 2017. But he has been encouraged by the player’s efforts to get back to his sparkling best — even before the arrival of competition in the form of January signing Patryk Klimala. ‘It was a great finish by Leigh against St Johnstone and his link-up play was very good,’ said Lennon. ‘It was a striker’s goal and you can’t coach that. ‘He’s getting in there, creating chances and is more like his old self, which is fantastic. ‘Everyone says the presence of Klimala is bringing the best out of him but he’s working hard — and he was working hard before Klimala was in the door.’

LEWIS MORGAN has completed his move from Celtic to David Beckham’s Inter Miami in the MLS. The 23-year-old Scotland winger, who joined the Parkhead side from St Mirren in January 2018, was given permission to discuss the move three weeks ago and now departs for an undisclosed fee.