Celtic boss Neil Lennon believes there will be more to come from striker Anthony Stokes this term.
Celtic boss backs striker to push on this term
Celtic boss Neil Lennon believes there will be more to come from striker Anthony Stokes this term.
The Dubliner signed for his boyhood heroes last summer from Hibernian but had an up-and-down first season at Parkhead.
Despite scoring regularly - he ended up with 19 for Celtic - the 23-year-old only started one of the seven Old Firm games against Rangers.
He incurred the wrath of the Hoops boss for an incident in a hotel the night before the last SPL game of the season which at the time cast doubts on his future at Celtic.
Stokes then infuriated Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni by pulling out of the Carling Nations Cup games against Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The Irishman was paired with Gary Hooper in last week's SPL opener against Hibs at Easter Road, scoring the opener in a 2-0 win, and Lennon is looking for him to kick on this season.
"Well, they were very productive last season [Hooper and Stokes], the two of them got 40 goals between them," Lennon told
www.extratime.ie.
"Anthony's still only 23 and he's a very talented player.
"He came in last year and he did exactly what we brought him in to do, he scored goals.
"There is more to come from him, we think.
"In terms of what he brought to the team last year, he did very, very well.
"He had a very good relationship with Gary but we've got [Georgios] Samaras, [Daryl] Murphy, [Shaun] Moloney, [Kris] Commons, who can all play in that position as well.
"We're looking, obviously, for more from him this year in terms of his goals, in terms of his all-round performances, but he knows that.
"He had a few problems, disciplinary-wise, and he knows that as well and we've seen a different side of him, coming back this year."
Inter test
Lennon was speaking at the Aviva Stadium ahead of Saturday's Dublin Super Cup competition, which sees the Hoops take on Inter Milan in their first game.
The former Celtic skipper believes the tournament will be a good barometer for the club's European aspirations.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for us to gauge where we are in terms of comparisons with the calibre of team of Inter Milan," he said.
"We feel that Europe is important, not just to the club but to the players and the backroom staff, including myself, as part of our development.
"We play our [Europa League] qualifier on the 18th of August and we dearly want to get through that tie so we can at least have European football at the club until December.
"This tournament will give us the opportunity to look at a different formation and different personnel in different positions to see if we can adapt against real quality opposition."
Lennon is hoping that the double-header over the weekend - Celtic play an Irish select team, the Airtricity XI, on Sunday - will help get rid of any rust which may still be prevalent.
"We started the season well last week, we got a good result, and we're looking again to up the tempo," he said.
"We needed the games, there's no doubt about that and these games will be important for us in terms of building again for Aberdeen in a week's time, because there's still a little bit of rustiness in the squad which is understandable because we've only been back three or four weeks.
"We'll be looking to be competitive and I'm sure Manchester City, Inter Milan and the Airtricity team will be exactly the same.
"Even though this is a pre-season tournament, I think there'll be a little bit more of an edge to it."
