Celtic pundit Kevin Graham has recently made a claim about the club’s current goalkeeping situation.
Graham was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was the club’s goalkeeping situation and Graham believes that the club should bring Vasilis Barkas back into the side as Scott Bain’s influence has been overestimated.
Former Celtic player Kris Commons had criticised Barkas following his performance in the Old Firm derby. Commons had said that Barkas has ‘no presence’ and the Greek goalkeeper doesn’t save enough shots (as per Glasgow Times). Bain started Celtic’s games against Motherwell, Lille and Sparta Prague.
Which goalkeeper should start against Hibernian?
Bain
Barkas
Graham believes that the club needs to trust goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods in this situation.
He said: “I would bring back Barkas. I think Scott Bain’s contribution has been overestimated, overegged. He had a good game in [Lille], saved a penalty kick, but I think we’ve shipped 10 goals in the three games that he’s been there.
“Look, we’ve got to trust Stevie Woods. We’ve got to trust Stevie Woods on this. Listen to David Marshall on the night when David Marshall saved that penalty kick, Marshall says having Woodsy [meant that he] knew where that guy [Aleksandar Mitrovic] was going to put the ball because he’s missed his last two for Fulham, so they had worked on that. Marshall’s got praise coming out his earholes for Stevie Woods.”
TIF Thoughts on Graham’s comments regarding Celtic’s goalkeeping situation…
This is Barkas’ first season in Scotland and while he has come in for criticism, he might be taking time to settle into the surroundings in a new country and at a new club.
Celtic had spent an initial fee of £2.95 million to sign Barkas from AEK Athens in the summer and because of that, they can’t afford to let the Greek goalkeeper remain on the bench. They wouldn’t want the money they spent to be wasted and because of that, playing Barkas as much as they can will be a good option for the Hoops.