GLASGOW: Celtic manager Neil Lennon admitted his Scottish Premier League giants will be hit hard when South Korean duo Cha Du-ri and Ki Sung-yeung miss a month of the campaign because of January’s Asian Cup.
Du-ri and Sung-yeung scored both goals in injury time on Sunday in a 2-0 win over St Johnstone before flying out for the Asian tournament in Qatar.
“Du-ri is very underrated and has not been in a losing team yet in the league,” Lennon said.
“He keeps getting himself in there. Again he’s one of those who maybe lacks a bit of composure with the final ball at times but his application is tremendous and it was a marvellous goal.
“Sung-yeung has been fantastic for me for the last 11 or 12 weeks and he is hugely influential.
“But I could have strangled the both of them before Du-ri scored. Sung-yeung I fancied to at least hit the target with two free-kicks and Du-ri kept getting into good positions and hit the first man.
“But I’m delighted with their two performances over the last couple of months and we will miss them.”
The pain of losing the pair may be softened by the news that former Arsenal and Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg is to train with the Parkhead club with a view to signing.
“It’s not a trial or anything like that. It’s so he can have a look at us and we can have a look at him,” Lennon said of the player who was recently plying his trade with Chicago Fire in the MLS.
“He had a horrendous time with injuries at West Ham but the last 18 months he has played a lot of games in America.
“You never lose that quality and he might just have something that we need. He has been a quality player for a long, long time and he is vastly experienced.”
No comments:
Post a Comment