NEIL Lennon likes his goalkeepers to makes saves because, I’m surmising, this action tends to mean Celtic not conceding a goal.

It’s not an old fashioned way of looking at football in 2019. This isn’t backward thinking from the manager. It’s the reason goalies are allowed to use their hands and wear gloves.

Brendan Rodgers wanted his keeper to be a footballer, someone who could stop and pass the ball with equal success.

Lennon is of a different mindset. He still wants Celtic to build from the back, he won’t want to see his No1 punt the ball when no striker is bearing down on him and three defenders free to take a pass.

But when it comes for the manager to choose between Craig Gordon and Scott Brown, Lenny will go with whoever he believes is going to make the most saves and take the most crosses.

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I believe that’s going to be Gordon.

Now, I have no word from inside the camp. I’m simply reading between the lines of what has been said so far.

Bain has done nothing wrong. Indeed, his clean sheet record is fantastic. I just feel that Lennon will lean towards Gordon more once he’s fitter. We are going to see a lot of him this season.

Big Craig is an excellent shot-stopper. Bain took his place not because the Scotland man was throwing goals in; rather than he wasn’t as good as Rodgers wanted him to be when I came to passing it.

We have already seen with Lennon that he would rather a goalie clear their lines than attempt a 40-yard ball to a team-mate which Bobby Murdoch would be happy with.

Gordon has proven himself to be the type of goalkeeper Lennon likes and it’s going to be interesting to see what the manager does with this issue.

Hey, Celtic have two seriously good keepers, both recent Scotland internationals, at the same time. Has that ever happened before?

I have been saying for weeks that I have never understood the ‘panic’ shown by some Celtic supporters over the supposed weakness of the squad.

Surely after four convincing wins, hugely encouraging performances right across the board and some terrific football, those sceptics have relaxed.

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I said only last week that I was encouraged by what I had seen and that was without me seeing Kristopher Julien or Marian Shved kicking a ball.

Well, the £7million signing strolled through the win over Nomme Kaluj is Estonia, while Shved scored a terrific goal and looked keen to impress.

Added to that was a good performance from Boli Bolingoli, who has been ridiculously criticised, and that’s three new guys up and running now with, I would imagine, two new signings still to be made.

By the time the August transfer window shuts, Lenny will have two players competing for every position in a squad much inproved from last season - and that was a squad that won a treble and made the last 32 of the Europa League.

What must be said if that Cluj will be a significant step-up. They have enjoyed good results in recent years, this is a good team, which is why I’m glad we go to Romania next week.

Against the stronger teams. it’s always best to be able to play the deciding game at Celtic Park with, I hope and expect, a positive result to build on.