Neil Lennon is demanding more from Adam Idah as the £9million striker’s struggles continue.
The Irishman was handed a fourth Celtic start on the bounce away to Dundee, making it 31 appearances for the season. But eight goals in all competitions with the most recent of those coming at the end of November, have raised questions over his form, especially after Celtic shelled out £9.5million to sign him permanently from Norwich City in the summer.
Brendan Rodgers said this week that the big No.9 doesn’t need to be scoring goals in order to get a pat on the back. But punters and pundits alike are expecting more from the Ireland international and another missed half in the first chance against Dundee in an ineffective individual display resulted in a brutal assessment from Lennon. Idah is now 12 games without a goal and was hooked on the hour mark.
“Where’s he fitting in? Well he’s got to do better it’s as simple as that,” Lennon told Sky Sports. “He should have scored first half. He makes some runs but keeps going instead of changing his runs.
“At times he’s got to hold the ball up a lot better and he’s got to get on the end of crosses. There’s one that came in far post and he more or less ducked out of it when he should be going at attacking it. I think he’s got good attributes but he’s got to do a lot more. If I’m the captain in there, Callum, I’m going ‘come on, we need more out of you.’
“It’s time he played the width of the box instead of making all these wee runs outside the channels out side the box. Especially if Celtic are in the final third, he’s got to stay central and link the play up a bit better as well.”
Kris Boyd also didn’t miss after full-time. He added: “I just don’t know what’s going on with him. I get the fact that when you;re a striker and you’re not scoring goals, you maybe overthink things.
“I know people speak bout £9m and it’s a hefty price tag. I get that. But he doesn’t seem to be the same player that came up here last season hungry. There’s no edge to his play.
“He’s struggling at this moment in time and he’ll find himself back out of the team now because Kyogo will go through the middle, Maeda will come back in and Kuhn will be back on that right hand side.
“And he can’t now complain and say ‘I’ve not really had a chance,’ because you’ve had a chance. The amount of times he’s come on in games and scored because teams are tired and defending, he’s got to do more.”