Neil Lennons Stubbornness

What's so shocking about that. He constantly plays players out of position where they obviously play * but still plays them again in the next match in the same position.
He can't see a change when every one of us is screaming for one.
He has absolutely no clue what he's doing.

 

Agreed , some people have such short term memories, Lenny got it wrong for this game no doubt about that but after getting to the last 16 last year and beating Barca he deserves abit of leeway i feel. Was a shocking performance, of course it was but the ties not over keep the faith

 

Okay maybe I am over-reacting a wee bit!! Yes I STILL remember Barca and Moscow, but if we cannot beat minnow like Shaktar whats the point. He needs to be consistently delivering results to us! Having a good season last year does not give him an excuse to * it up this year.
It like us winning all OF games in a season and still losing the league...no point winning all the games against the huns and losing to the likes of ICT and Ross County.
Like John Hartson said, football is a results business, so we need him to deliver results, if you cannot do that and do that consistently then we will eventually have to think about finding someone who can.

 

It's got to the point where I'm starting to not like Lennon as a person tbh, most if this is down to twitter and how he's always a * never accepting anything and replying with smart cheeky replys back to fans asking genuine questions in the next way possible. He can never accept any critism or blame where he's * half the time we get beat * he'll come out trying to say we've played brilliant and such, he need to just learn to accept blame on him and the players.

 

I know what your saying mate but we lost three of our best players and we played two centre halfs that have never played together , At the end of the day most of our players were awol , you can't just put all the blame on Lennon.

 

The team on the park should have been more than enough to put this tie to bed.It's the lack of changing the formation and subs that's baffling me,it's almost as if we wanted to lose first leg.

 

I'm one of Lennon's biggest defenders but even I have to wonder why he gets so stubborn at times regarding his sub's and lineup's at times. It is even more annoying when nothing seems to get done about it. I mean we were left chasing the game and he subs Lustig for Matthews. Why not throw Stokes or Balde on at that time instead?

But, in saying that in no way should people call for his head IF we don't get through to the group stages because for me that's just a bad knee-* reaction to a (possible) bad result. Look at what Lennon's achieved for the club since taking over, but you're wanting him to go seemingly just based on a couple of matches and IF we don't get into the Champions League yet are STILL in Europe until at least Christmas?

Sorry but no way should he go regardless of whether we get beat or not next Wednesday.

 

Great post.

I'm as * off, upset and gutted as the majority at both the teams performance and NL's performance last night make no mistake about it.

but some people on here calling for him to go and Lawell to go need there head looked at. Short memories indeed. I'm reserving any kind of 'judgment' till after the return. got a feeling the place will be packed and that mob will * themselves

 

He has always been tactically inept and naive, nothing has changed.

 

I don't think it's a case of people having short memories, it's anything but for me, because I think Lennon has done a fantastic job for us, but last night showed that he is still very tactically naive, and it was similar away in Elfsborg. We got away with one in Sweden because they were a poor side, but I thought Lennon would have learned something from the game, but he hasn't. He still decided to go with Samaras up top himself and play Mulgrew in midfield.

Everyone and their dog could see that Samaras was our best player in Europe last year when playing wide left, why change that, it doesn't make sense whatsoever. And partnering Mouyokolo and Van Dijk was a terrible decision. Two players with no European experience who have never played together, and he throws them in the deep end, in a massive game for us. When all the while, we had a centre half that won a POTY award playing in midfield.

One of his biggest downfalls however, is failing to change it when it isn't working, and unfortunately, that is not just in one or two games, that has always been an achillies heel in my opinion. He waits far too long to make a sub when things aren't going to plan.

I don't think this is an overreaction at all, I'm one of Lennon's biggest fans, and have been since day dot. But he has to take a large proportion of the blame for last night I feel, his team selection was dross.

 

I agree. Everytime Celtic beat a big team it was on the wings of the fans, it was because everything clicked into place, a big occasion, 125th anniversary, whatever. Celtic never outplayed anyone in Europe. And you can't ride your luck forever. He's probably a great motivator but he sure as * isn't a great tactician. And he constantly plays players out of position. As I said in another thread yesterday, Championship manager 95 called and they want their tactics back.

Add to that the board's unwillingness to spend any money and you get what we saw yesterday. The mighty Shakhtar Karagandy.

 

Any club that would have considered hiring Lennon based on his exploits last season will now look and think twice after tonight.

Lennon is fully to blame for last night. Giving it time to digest and watch again I really cannot believe his decisions, tactics and set up.

What he played was basically a 4-5-1-0 and I cannot understand why, not at all.

He tries to play this Barca-esque passing style walk it into goal football, however what he does not realize and seems to never get is that our players do not have the first touch or awareness to play this style of football and win easily, especially after a 7 hour flight to a tricky destination in Europe. I think he needs to put Guardiola's book down and get back to managing Celtic.

What on earth made him think that crossing balls into the box via Izzy was a good tactic? Especially when we had no REAL striker up front, never mind a target man? That got even more strange when he took the crossing threat off and replaced him with our target man! Really strange decision.

Mulgrew is an average Scottish player. No flair, no first touch and no awareness, yet he puts him into a position where those attributes are required?

I would also seriously question the fitness of Ledley, Lustig and Samaras before the match.

In the end, while this team deserved more respect than they got from our fans and many of the media, they did not deserve the respect Lennon set out to give them. It was always going to end in tears especially if they scored first in which we give them more confidence.

I am no football manager however even I could see a smash and grab first goal and park the bus there after was the correct tactic, with fit players of course.

It ends with his attitude, his blatant ignorance to his poor decisions and ultimately getting it wrong.

I will continue to give my un dying faith to the club and to those under its employment but my patience is wearing thin with the Manager.

 

Fantastic post - sums up my thoughts perfectly.

 

What was even more baffling, was all night, they were after thrown ins, it was a strong part of their game with such a big side. Yet when Matthews comes on, we decide to try and match it by opting for long throws also. Playing right into their hands was that.

 

Mouyokolo gave away a ridiculous amount of throw-ins, including the one that lead to their 1st goal which was simply down to shocking ball-control. Had occasions in the 2nd half when he could have played a pass but decided to lump it out again. Frustrating as *.

 

Whenever we have a bad result, Lenny always comes out using words like 'encouraging', 'positive' etc.

Compare and contrast that with Alex Ferguson's reaction to his team beating R*****s in the Scottish Cup Final (2:20):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoSiBq2Q0MU

 

---------------Forster----------------

--------Van Dijk-----Mulgrew----------
Matthews---------------------Izaguirre
------------Kayal---Ledley------------

Boerrigter---------------------Samaras

------------Balde----Stokes-----------


Play wide with two pacey direct wingers, and two attacking wing backs all capable of throwing a good cross in. Keep the midfield tight with Kayal and Ledley, with Ledley advancing and Kayal protecting VD & Muldini. No Brown for me as he is the least technically sound of the options in a game where every pass must be precise and killer. Force balls through for the 2 strikers assuming we don't get more in before Wednesday. The only way Shakter will potentially score is from a set piece so this team has plenty height. I think this set up would roll that team 4 or 5 nil. On the basis of last night I doubt whether Shakter could even survive in the SPFL, terrible team who got two lucky breaks, we should go all guns blazing for 4 goals, not 2 as Strachan suggested imo.
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Thanks

 

bottom line he isnt a good manager and i dont think he ever will.we were all screaming last nite for a change whether it be tactics or subs nothing.i believe we need another manager asap