NEIL LENNON will ask Ryan Christie to play his fourth game in nine days when Celtic face Hibs at Easter Road tomorrow afternoon.
The Hoops boss admitted he wasn’t too pleased with his counterpart Steve Clarke, the Scotland international manager, for failing to give his playmaker a rest during the hectic three-match schedule.
Christie featured in the games against Serbia in Belgrade a week ago yesterday, Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday and Israel in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. He was the goal hero in the 1-1 draw against the Serbs that led to the 5-4 penalty-kick shoot-out success that took the Scots through to the Euro Championship Finals in the summer, their first major tournament in 22 years.
He was substituted three minutes from the end of the regulation 90 minutes in that match, but played the entire 90 minutes-plus in the other outings.
Asked about his players getting a break during international duty, Lennon, speaking to the Daily Record, answered: “Well he (Steve Clarke) didn’t rest Ryan – that didn’t please me.
“It was three 90 minutes in six days which is a big ask for any individual.
“So, I think Steve tried to balance his squad as best he could, but it looked like he didn’t want to play without Ryan in the games.
“I can’t be over-critical of it, but we would have liked him to have missed some of the games, but he’s played in all three.”
