Celtic - The Goalkeeping Situation

Undeniably, Celtic had countless problems on and off the park in the 20/21 season. From Dubai to Duffy, from Lennon to Lawell, but today we will be taking a look at one of the most talked about positions in the last campaign: Goalkeeper. 

Fraser Forster’s loan expired at the end of the 19/20 season and despite Celtic trying to get the big Englishman back up to Glasgow, he refused and tried to stay and fight for his place at Southampton therefore Celtic started the season with Scott Bain as goalkeeper. The Hoops would then look to the transfer market for a keeper. Many names were mentioned; the likes of David Marshall, Robin Olsen, Vaclav Hladky and even Claudio Bravo were reportedly targets. However Celtic opted for a relatively unknown (well at least to Hoops fans) International goalkeeper, Vasilis Barkas. 

The 26 year old looked like a rather smart acquisition. He was Greek No.1, had played in the Champions League and helped AEK Athens knock Celtic out of the 18/19 version of the competition. Celtic agreed a fee believed to be in the region of £4.5 million for Barkas and he looked like the modern, complete goalkeeper; even stating he ‘would rather play as a midfielder’. The Greek’s Celtic debut came at Rugby Park on match day 2 of the SPFL season. Killie’s goal, represented a big chance for Barkas to introduce himself to the Celtic support in his first game with a penalty, needless to say, Chris Burke converted and the match finished 1-1. Barkas went on to play many games after this but after Celtic crashed out of the Europa League there was a few dead rubber games. One of those came in the form of a home tie to Lille. This ended up being Celtic’s final European game of the season. 

The Ligue 1 leaders came to Glasgow’s East End hoping to clinch top spot in the group but it was the Celtic lineup that aroused fans before the game. Young Northern Irish goalkeeper Conor Hazard was named in the starting 11. Celtic, unexpectedly, won the game by 3 goals to 2 and the young keeper impressed. Even as much that he went on to start the next 4 matches between the sticks. One of these games was a Scottish Cup Final; a game that was supposed to be played in May of 2020. If Celtic won, they would become the first ever team to win a ‘Quadruple Treble’. A lot was on the line at the national stadium. Hearts lay in wait, and the Championship side proved stiff opposition. They took Celtic to extra time and then penalties as the match finished 3-3. What’s this got to do with a goalkeeper, you may wonder. Well, it is on penalties where the then 22 year old really shone. Hazard saved two crucial penalties in the shootout to hand Celtic an unprecedented 4th Treble in a row. After the final against Hearts, Celtic had league games against Ross County, Hamilton and Dundee United before a visit to Ibrox. Conor Hazard played in two of those games but in the final match before the crunch Glasgow Derby, Vasilis Barkas was reinstated to the team. Celtic would go on to lose the game 1-0 but after it Neil Lennon publicly came out and backed Barkas. After this, we all thought the Greek would assuredly be Celtic No.1. 

After the turn of the year, Celtic went to Dubai for a warm weather training camp. Omnipotent disaster. After a positive COVID case, Celtic’s squad was forced into full isolation, apart from a few first team members. As a result of this, Conor Hazard came back into the first team fold and played the two games where Barkas wasn’t available. In this time, the Northern Irishman kept one clean sheet in a goalless draw at Paradise with Livingston. The other match, ended in a 1-1 draw with Hibs. Once the Celtic first team had returned, Vasilis Barkas came back into the lineup. This showed, if it was not already clear, the Greek was first choice goalkeeper. Celtic drew 2-2 with Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena as various first team stars returned. It was a snowy night in West Lothian and conditions were execrable. In his post match interview Neil Lennon would totally forsake the comments he made after the 1-0 defeat to Rangers at the beginning of January. Lennon said “I don’t think Vasilis has settled. He’s not the presence at the minute that he can be”. Therefore, since Celtic’s 2-0 win at home to Hamilton at the end of January, Scott Bain played every match until the penultimate post split fixture. Said match was a home game against St Johnstone and Vasilis Barkas was brought back into the side after Bain suffered a finger injury. Barkas then played the final game of the season as well, at Easter Road. In these two appearances, the Greek formidably kept two clean sheets. 

Back to Bain and the 29 year old was arguably third choice goalkeeper at the end of the 19/20 season but in the 20/21 campaign the Scot has made 23 appearances, at the same time keeping 8 clean sheets. No doubt, Scott Bain is an average goalkeeper. Throughout his time in the SPFL, the 29 year old has conceded more goals than he’s played games. Standing at 5”11, Bain isn’t the most imposing keeper but he does have decent reactions. You know Celtic have a problem in goal when the goalkeeper, who is Scottish doesn’t even get called up to the national team. 

So now that we’ve discussed the problems about the goalkeeping situation at Celtic, let’s turn our attention to possible solutions. 

I’m sure there would be an outcry if Celtic started the 21/22 season with Scott Bain as the No.1 goalkeeper. After all, Vasilis Barkas kept two clean sheets in his last two games in the 20/21 season. We’ve yet to see the best of Barkas so could he establish himself as a first team member next season? There are many factors which suggest he could, after all the 26 year old has had to adapt to a new language and culture over the past year or so. Looking at his stats before he came to Celtic, they’re vastly impressive and are also justification for his virtuous reputation. Before he came to Glasgow, the 26 year old kept 46 clean sheets in the 89 games he played in the 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20 seasons. In the same time frame he only conceded an average of 0.5 goals per game. Here is a link to a video which disposes the Greeks ability  - PreviewPreview4:30Vasilis Barkas • Best Saves 2018-2020 • HDYouTube · aekos eikosienas · 20 Mar 2020 . Putting our faith in Barkas may not be the most perilous idea. There is also Conor Hazard, as mentioned previously, the 23 year old has certainly showed he has raw potential and aptness. Hazard also signed a contract extension at Celtic which will keep him at the club until at least the summer of 2023. This was followed by a Northern Ireland call up in March where Hazard made his second cap in a friendly against the USA. Celtic could even turn to the transfer market in their quest to eventually solve the issue. Nevertheless, whatever happens, let’s have faith that it is the right decision.