Neil Lennon

Mate the game they beat us at ibrox was a nothing game, the league had already been won. Last New year's one was worse as it mattered and that was under Rodgers.

The point I would make is that not every defeat or poor performance is down to the manager. Sometimes you have to accept the other team were better on the day or your own players had off days. It happens.

Too many folk quick to point the finger at lennon for whatever reason.

 

It doesnt matter, we still set up to compete and win and we didnt. These games are huge psychologically as well, it gave them belief that they were going to challenge this season. Not just one player had an off day though, in the last game maybe only three players had pass marks (all defensive). You can excuse for maybe one or two players not turning up or costing a game with an error but you cant excuse most of a team not turning up for almost the full game.

I would definitely say that the manager is culpable for the way a team plays.

 

Why are people so stunned by this?

People need to stop deluding themselves, they are a decent team now. Their EL results in a very tough group confirm that.

If everyone is fit, we are still ahead (as the game at Ibrox showed); but if we are forced to start without a striker and have several other key players out or not up to full speed yet and they are at full strength in conditions that suit their style more than ours...

Why is this so shocking?

Also, while there was a certain amount of luck involved, having a world class goalkeeper (and getting him back to playing like it from a position of low self-confidence) is not luck. Lenny and Steve Woods did that. It's not luck.

 

This. Too many on here would rather shoot their granny than admit the huns have some half decent players and are more than capable of giving us a game. Are we better? Of course we are, but under the conditions you mentioned above, they are more than capable of beating us.

 

I'm not so stunned.. but I hate not matching aggression.
But in the other hand....celtic play with that style against them we lose players to red cards etc.
We won...but i would not like to see us "* the bed" like that again.

 

I love Lenny, I wanted him as manager, I want him as manager.

Now the dust has settled on Sunday I would like to offer my worthless opinion on the team.

I really wanted Morgan to have the game of his life and prove everyone wrong. He didn’t and he should never, ever, be our lone striker.

Elyonoussi was unfit, it was obvious immediately that he was never going to get up to game speed. He should not have played. 9 against 11 is a bad way to start. It meant that the three midfielders were going to be swamped with no out ball to speak of coupled with Johnny no neck not having his best game either.

We got lucky and we dug in to grind it out.

No Celtic manager should ever do what Rodgers did to Mikey last year and what a Lenny did to Morgan on Sunday. Very conceited and downright disrespectful to the support.

 

NL: “Forster, Brown, McGregor, Edouard, Christie and Rogic didn’t travel and unavailable tomorrow night.”

NL: “We are going to use the squad for this game and in this busy month, some players need game time and it’s an ideal situation to give the players that extra motivation.”


NL: “We’ve got a strong team. Young Robertson, Dembele and Savoury are in the squad. Whether they start is another thing. Griffiths, Sinclair, Bitton, Bauer and Gordon will all feature tomorrow


NL: “We are here to be competitive and to win. We have had a fantastic campaign, we have to respect the opposition and take a huge amount of pride in what we’ve achieved so far. We want to finish on a High



NL: “There’s no pressure on us which is a novelty for us. There’s no pressure and that makes us a dangerous opponent for anyone


NL: “We are delighted about topping the group and look forward to the
@EuropaLeague
in the second half of the season.”

 

A match fit elyonoussi starts every game imo and I can understand why lennon put him in the team. Whether it was lack of fitness which caused him to be pish, who knows. Forrest, macgregor and Christie, who are all fit, also didn't turn up, sometimes that happens.

Your last point mate, see with 3 strikers deemed unfit to start, I'm no sure what you wanted Lennon to do.

 

This is spot on. They're not a bad side, by any stretch of the imagination. As regards the luck involved, you make your own luck to a certain extent. There's a reason we get the most 'luck' e.g. Sunday, the Hamilton game, late winners vs Lazio, and it's because we're the most talented side in Scotland, with an unbelievable winning mentality.

 

No different to any other team in the league then ? Hibs, Livingston and Dunfermline(Championship) are the only teams domestically to have held prevented us winning in 90 mins this season.(I think)

Even in the last week Hamilton came a lot closer than the DOBs.

 

No, nothing like those teams you mentioned. Are you suggesting these teams are better than them then, or that they are at the level of Hamilton at best?

 

I'm suggesting you are completely obsessed and are a throw back who is incapable of appreciating Glasgow Celtic in the 21st Century. Are you denying the fact that all of the teams I have mentioned have achieved more against us this season than anyone else ?

 

I appreciate my team plenty mate. I grew up when that lot were doing 9 in a row so I don’t have to be reminded to enjoy the now. I will admit the teams you mentioned achieved more, hard not to considering it’s fact, however to imply that these teams are on the same page as the huns now is a ridiculous comment to make. If you want to pretend they are, knock yourself out.

 

NL: We’re disappointed to lose the game but in the main very pleased with what I got out of it. Some of my players needed the games and needed the 90 minutes.

NL: "Overall, we’ve had an amazing campaign and I’m happy to have used the squad tonight because we have so many important domestic games coming up.”


NL: The campaign was done and dusted and we’ve already won a trophy so I didn’t want to run the risk of injuries. I wanted to give others some experience and some will need that 90 minutes for the games coming up.”

"Scott Robertson had a terrific debut. Scott’s performance delighted me. I thought it was a superb debut for an 18-year-old to come in and play in that environment so maturely and with a lot of composure.”

NL:
on
@kdembele_10
: "We think very highly of him. I wanted to give him some experience. I want to keep him around the team squad because we think he’s a real talent and I wanted to give him a little bit of experience at this level.”


NL:
on
@OlivierNtcham
: "I thought Ntcham was unbelievable. To give him the captaincy and then for him to take on the responsibility the way he did was excellent. I thought his all-round game tonight was absolutely top class.”


NL:"The likes of Griffiths, Bitton, Bolingoli, Bauer and Bayo getting time on the pitch has given them minutes in their legs now. These are huge games in the context of our season because the championship is our priority."

 

Made a couple of strange decisions lately..

Got away with the Morgan one. Whatever we think....He's never a striker and shouldn't be playing for us full stop..

Got away with Jullien tonight. Was nearly costly two or three time's before half time..

Hopefully that's them out the window..

 

Aye a few strange ones, but his rotation is (thankfully) nowhere near as bad as the rats, imagine throwing a makeshift team on away to Steve Clarke's Kilmarnock or away to tynecastle, bizarre.

 

Now that the group is done and dusted, I think he deserves a lot of praise for how we've performed, as I believe it's above most people's expectations. Not just the results, but we've played some good football too.

 

NEIL LENNON has told his Celtic stars to chase the dream of a place in the Europa League Final.

Hoops gaffer Lenny played in the club’s last Euro final — the 2003 Uefa Cup defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Porto in Seville.

He also watched Rangers lose to * Advocaat’s Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester five years later.

But Lennon has challenged his Group E winners to reach the quarter-finals at least — and won’t rule out a dramatic return to a final.


Lennon, whose side ended their group campaign with a 2-0 away loss to Cluj, said: “Two teams in the last 20 years have made the final, so there’s an incentive there. If that’s the glass ceiling I’ll take that and maybe try to win it this time. But it’s a long way off.

“You start to get really excited about it if you make it to the quarter-finals.

“I think that should be our first aim — to try and get to the quarters and take it from there if we can.”

Celts will be seeded in Monday’s draw for the last-32 knockout stages and will miss big guns like Ajax, Inter, Sevilla, Arsenal and Manchester United.


They could still land an awkward tie against the likes of Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen or Wolves.

But the historic group win and points haul — highlighted by back-to-back victories over Lazio — has filled Lennon with confidence.

He added: “We can handle anyone, but we don’t want to rest on the Lazio wins and for that to be the big feather in the cap this season.

“We want more big scalps and we want to forge ahead.


We will see what Monday brings and then we will look forward to that when the time comes around.

“I hope our seeding can help. I hope it’s a favourable one.


We want to make inroads into it if we can.

“We’ve had a brilliant campaign so far and we don’t want it to end. We’re excited about it so we’ll see what Monday brings.

“There are many incentives for us. When the draw comes on Monday I am sure we’ll all be looking forward to it and it’s brilliant to be in a great position after Christmas.

“It’s a real motivation for the players and obviously the fans crave it as well.”

Cluj manager Dan Petrescu, whose side joined Celts in the last 32 after their win on Thursday night, has tipped the Hoops as potential Europa League winners.

Lennon, who next faces former club Hibs on Sunday, said: “I think he was genuine.

“He even said to me afterwards that we have got a fantastic squad here and he was very complimentary.

“Sometimes we get credit from other areas rather than back home.


We had a 100 per cent home record.

“But it is done for now. It’s moving into the knockout rounds now and that makes a big difference.”