CRAIG GORDON last night insisted he is unconcerned at the prospect of Celtic signing another goalkeeper before the transfer window closes on Monday week and is confident he can hold onto his first team place.
Gordon has been restored to Neil Lennon’s side as a result of the dislocated finger Scott Bain suffered last week and is set to start in the Europa League play-off match against AIK at Parkhead tonight.
Lennon is keen to bring in a back-up keeper and has been tipped to make a move for former Celtic and England player Fraser Forster, who has fallen out of favour at Premier League club Southampton, before midnight on September 2.
But Gordon said: “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who is in here. I want to play. And the only way I can do that is by playing well. If he does bring in another goalkeeper, then I’ll need to play very well to make sure I’ll keep my place. If I don’t, I’ll have to live with that.
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“I don’t mind. I’ll happily fight anyone for their place. That’s the mentality I have, no matter what. I’ll do my best to get in the team, concentrate on myself and my fitness. If I’m doing as well as I can and I get picked, great, I want to play.”
Meanwhile, Gordon has admitted that Lennon is less concerned about his keeper passing the ball out from the back than his predecessor Brendan Rodgers was.
“He doesn’t want any chances taken,” he said. “It’s a safety first policy. But he still wants us to keep the ball out of the net, just like any manager I’ve ever had. There’s not quite as much focus on playing out from the back. It’s about adjusting to that. The ball gets forward a bit more quickly and we push on from there.
“I didn’t think I was that bad at it before! It just seemed to be a snowball effect, something everybody wanted to talk about.
“But it wasn’t too big of an obstacle. It was something we did and did particularly well. We managed to win three Trebles and I played in two-and-a-half of them. So there must have been something working, especially to keep the clean sheets that we did.
“It wasn’t just passing for the sake of it. We were trying to lure opponents out from their 18-yard box. There was method in it, just like there’s method in what we’re trying to do now. It’s a slight change of approach, but it has its benefits.
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“You have to say that it’s one of Scott’s biggest attributes, if not his biggest attribute. He is a very good kicker of the ball, he passes it really well. If I’m being honest, he does that better than I do. That’s fine. It’s something I didn’t think I did badly, but he can do it better.
“So I’ve got to hold my hands up and say: ‘Yeah, he does that better than me’. But that was the manager’s decision, to go ahead and play him for that reason. And, at that particular time, it worked well. So you have to give him credit for that decision.
“But I certainly don’t think I was bad or poor in any way. He was just slightly better in that department.”
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