Neil Lennon

Rod Stewart singing in the background. Brilliant!

 

Moved on from Lenny’s time at the club? I’d rather we move back, to competing in Europe.

 

We had one great, but anomalous, European campaign under Lennon.

That aside, both Rodgers and Deila at least matched him.

 

The problem with managers other than Lennon is: whom does/will the club have on the shortlist? Knowing Lawwell, the alternatives to Lennon might be worse than him. Not expecting Benitez to be on that list, for example.

 

Aside being the key word there man, neither looked like coming anywhere near close to matching our 2012/13 season.

He also did it in only his third full season as a manager, who’s to say he couldn’t have went on to do well in Europe again with us, particularly if he hadn’t had the spine of his team sold that summer?

 

I think that some (many!) folks were a bit harsh on Lenny on the match thread.

I get why he took Hayes off - we were strolling it and Hayes was likely to collect a second Yellow. I also get why he put Sinclair on - try and relight his fire on the big stage - but it never worked. Sinclair failed to take his opportunity - again!. I just hope that Lenny can see that the player is done. Punt!

Where I think that Lenny did * up was in not taking off KT sooner. It was obvious that he had run his race. Ntcham wasn't faring too much better, but KT should have gone first.

 

Fwiw I'm still really undecided about Lenno taking the job permanently, as I don't want him to damage his reputation with us.

He's shown his managerial qualities getting the team to grind out the results at Hearts, Dundee and today. And it has to be recognised that under Rodgers the away form (Hearts, Kilmarnock and St mirren) was really poor earlier this season. So for me these recent results are a positive, but.....

It's obvious the team is lacking creativity in performance, and struggling to dominate or open up lesser opponents. With today being a perfect example.

Wether that's due to lack of tactical nous on the bench, or fatigue, due to the length of the season. But for me the players looked absolutely knackered at the end. Has the physical conditioning of the players dropped significantly since Rodgers left, or were lots of players already in the 'red zone' when he jumped ship to Leicester?

Rodgers legacy amongst the domestic trophies was squeezing every last single drop of energy out of Tierney, Brown and Lustig and his lack of rest or recruitment to support these players (and to improve the defence) was almost criminal at times.

In addition watching Edouard score and create the winning goals today, has me wondering if Lenno has the contacts and reputation to sign promising young French talent. As this appears to be a market that the club is currently exploring regularly with Ntcham, Dembele, Weah and Edouard.

Previously Lennon's recruitment appeared to focus around English clubs (Stokes, Hopper, Cummins, Ledley) can we still afford to compete in that market?

To be 13 points clear, and closing in on 8 in a row is amazing, but so many questions need answering ATM.

And how funny is it that after nearly bankrupting themselves again, they are only 2 points better off than they were at the same point last season. Absolute Clowns!

Sorry for rambling on, what a day!!

 

You actually think Lennon is the man to take us forward and get us competing in Europe?

 

Will judge Lennon once the season is done and we know if we have won the rebel treble.

So far the football has been poor and that’s twice now we’ve allowed teams with 10 men back into a game and even looked as though we could concede another which was worrying.

Cant argue with the results but we need to be performing better than we have been given the quality of player we have. I’m hoping now that Ntcham and Rogic are back we will see a big improvement on that front.

 

Very happy to get that win today; absolutely elated. We had both positives (+) and negatives (-) in the game however, a few observations:

Positives:
(+) Great to see Ntcham back and controlling the flow of the game in the first half.
(+) Freddie looked good and could have had another. Really happy with his shift he put in today.
(+) Thought Kristoffer had a good solid game.
(+) Callum, Jamesy and Brooney as per-usual efforts. Dedryck, Mikel, Scott (bain) and Andy did their bit. Hope Dedrycks knock isn't too bad.

Negatives:
(-) Kieran did not look match fit and I think he has lost a bit of confidence. Hope he has some good fortune soon and the injuries disappear. Lad is a world-class left back. Actually thought he did well considering.
(-) I will be honest here: when I noticed how dead-on-their-feet Celtic looked and seen Tom starting to make his way out of the dugout I looked at the clock (63 minutes) I was nearly going to scream. I thought it was a dreadful call and I only would have put him on the pitch if we were 4-0 up with ten minutes left. Did John and Neil collectively agree to bring him on? NEVER would I have put him near the team when Rangers were on top and we needed energy/runners. I would have put Ollie in 100%. This has made me think that Neil, as much as I love him, might not be the answer. I had doubts and now have some more.

With Boyata gone in the summer, I'd like to see a RB, CB (x2?) LW and a striker. Hopefully we can nab Ollie or Timo for another season loan but doubt it. Anyway, our squad is smashed with injuries and we are still in an unbelievable position - a fully fit squad is a scary prospect for any team going to face us. The future is bright, the future is green n white.

Hail Hail.

Martin.

 

The thing is we know exactly what we're getting with Lenny and he's proven in the past he can win the league, even after being 15 points behind the huns.

He already knows some of the team and gets on well with them, especially Broony.

He can handle some amount of pressure considering the abuse he got during is first time here and taking over a Rodgers team is quite a challenge. Was Lenny not the most successful manager Brendan faced?

What I think is positive are the late goals. It means the team is playing the full 90 minutes every game when other teams confidence might get blown by poor performance or things going against us like today. That winner required an incredible amount of quality and confidence.

I don't understand why he's being judged so quickly considering he's not lost a game and the teams he's faced have arguably been of higher quality than Brendan faced after the break.

We also know he'll accept a wage much lower than any manager who is proven to be better than him.

I'm not saying he's the only man for the job, I just think he's the best candidate we know of currently. When Ronny left we knew who we wanted but thought it wouldn't happen because Brendan was obviously someone rich EPL teams would be after.

Right now I can't think of anyone who I would love. I know there are better managers than Lenny, just don't know who. Maybe Moyes, I'm not a fan but he is a Tim and was well respected at Everton. He would probably pay us because it would be the perfect job for him after the football world seems to have forgotten him after the Man U disaster. Would be a big change in style for the team.

 

Mate, you are one greetin faced, miserable wee *.

Shut the * up trying to make yourself look clever using yer wee fancy words and go suck a * or something.

 

Didn't do him self any favours today.

From the start i felt KT was never going the last 90 minutes and i wonder why lenny started him.

I guess managers see things different from you average fan but i couldnt understand KT starting with hayes aswell and as it turned out both didn't, see out the game.I felt both these players would not last the full game and they didnt but i struggle to understand lenny thiniking regarding these two.

 

I think he’ll have learnt from that today. I think the fans have to remember that he’s taken on a team half-way through a season where a previous manager has had them drilled in a certain way of playing. I have to admit, i worried aobut the lineup today, Ntcham and Tierney were massive gambles. Hayes should never have been taken off at half time. Ntcham should have been taken off because although he played well, he can’t of been match sharp and was never going to last 90mins. Lennon should have brought on Burke for Ntcham first, if not at half time, if his plan was as some say and “go for the jugular”

 

It’s the best teams that grind out results when they aren’t necessarily playing to their potential. Shows the mental steel of the team.

 

100%

 

That’s * hilarious

If you ignore all the times Jock Stein done really good in Europe they matched him as well mate

 

Hayes was struggling with a knock end of the first half, only reason I can think Lenny would sub him since the plan would of obviously been to move him back into left back when KT was to come off. I hope he now gives Burke a chance on the left wing.

I’d be happy to have him as manager, I know he’d get us over the line for 10 but we should still be looking about for other options, I want us to keep evolving and improving, for that we need a higher calibre manager.