Neil Lennon

Going away to Hibs who are unbeaten in 8 spl games is as tough a game as we will get at this stage of the season. A draw is decent. They will take points in most or probably all of their remaining games....

 

No point denying how pish we’ve been under Lenny tho mate.

 

Have we though ? Compared to what ?

 

Compared to how we were performing after the Winter Break..

 

Yes.

 

Right mate. So again just a random 8 games aye ? We have lost four games this season. We are unbeaten under Lenny but when we compare the records of Lenny and Rodgers we only count the Rodgers games post Christmas ?

 

Comparing it that way is the most relevant as it’s the most recent, same players etc..

Lenny is a downgrade on Rodgers, that’s just a fact mate.

 

We have been painful to watch for the vast majority of Lennon's tenure as interim manager. Anyone who maintains otherwise is delusional or disingenuous.

 

Ok, performances haven't been great but in all honesty, with Rodgers in charge, I would have had absolutely no confidence in us going to Easter Rd twice and Swinecastle. In fact, with Rodger's track record at Hibs we could have been out of cup by now. Maybe Lenny isn't the answer but he is unbeaten during a run of tricky games in a time of turmoil. I give him full credit for that....

 

Respect to Lennon for his subliminal nod to the Lisbon Lions..

 

Does criticising the players attitude in public ever work? I cannot recall too many times where managers like Guardiola, Klopp, Zidane, Simeone and the likes have came out and publicly started questioning the attitude of the players. They usually do stuff like that in private. It seems like it's just for the fans, it's such an easy thing to go "the players have a poor attitude, they're not working hard enough", surely it's apart of the managers job to get the players mentally right and ensure that they don't take their foot off the gas?

 

I’d say nah... the players just take the huff and down tools. They’re just playing how they’re being told to play so you can see why they’d do that when hung out to dry.

 

People keep mentioning this, as if Lennon is an improvement on Rodgers.

Rodgers' had a 100% win rate in domestic cup competitions in Scotland; he only lost four of his 21 games against the Edinburgh sides; we had been in good form since the turn of the year: a win in the Scottish Cup and a dismal 0-0 draw at Easter Road, and a win at Tynecastle Stadium against a Hearts side that played over 45 minutes with ten men, would hardly have been beyond him, would it?

 

Both sides are guilty of that. You’re right it’s actually quite funny.

 

If going for a treble treble and winning every domestic game since the turn of the year is classed as stale then give me stale all the time please ffs.

Pretty bizzare the way in which folk are so quick to demean Rodgers’ achievements while at the same time being so defensive of Lennon.

 

People believe what they want to believe sometimes

 

NEIL Lennon has admitted he has no regrets about letting rip at his Celtic players for the first time since taking over as interim manager and is hoping his half-time dressing down produces a stark improvement in their remaining matches.

Lennon has been reluctant to tinker with Brendan Rodgers’ hugely successful winning formula since returning to Parkhead on a temporary basis back in February when his countryman left for Leicester City.

However, the Northern Irishman let his charges know in no uncertain terms what he thought about their lacklustre first-half display in the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Hibernian at Easter Road on Sunday.




Scott Brown and his team mates were much improved in the second-half and only three outstanding late saves from Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano denied them outright victory.

Lennon, who is hoping to be appointed manager for a second time at the end of the season, felt he was justified making his feelings known and is optimistic Celtic will now start their final four Premiership games and the William Hill Scottish Cup final next month far better.

“I have been at this club and been involved at this club for a long, long time,” he said. “I’m following in great footsteps and maybe it’s not Brendan’s way, the way I approach games.

“I have this reputation as being a hairdryer type manager. Not at all. But there are times when they need to be told and I think today was one of those days.”

Lennon added: “I don’t know if it’s the environment or the circumstances. But this is their title, this is their time and they have to make the most of it. This is a great club they can’t just put in inconsistent performances.


They have done brilliantly and on Sunday of all days, after what’s been a spectacular win last week (they beat Aberdeen 3-0 in the cup semi-final at Hampden seven days earlier), it should have been the start of them playing like that consistently.

“But again for the first 20 minutes I thought I was looking at a different team. In the second-half at times we were slow with the build-up or the switches of play. But the game did eventually start to open up and then the gaps started to appear.


At times the decision-making with the final ball or the pass or the cross or the finish was just lacking. We park that. But we have to work on approaching the games a lot better.”

Meanwhile, Lennon has admitted he was surprised by Olivier Ntcham’s performance against Hibs after being impressed with how the Celtic midfielder had trained in the build-up to the game.

The Frenchman, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury and was making only his third start this year, struggled before being replaced by Tom Rogic after an hour.

But Lennon said: “He just had one of those days and you don’t expect that from a player of his quality. He looked tremendous in training that’s why we went with him.

"We feel Tom’s not at full fitness yet. Olivier had one of those days but from what we saw in training this week he was ready to play. It certainly isn’t an attitude problem.”







WHEN Neil Lennon was a player at Celtic under both Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan he always had team mates who would strike fear into defences whenever the Parkhead club won a free-kick near the opposition area or were awarded a corner.

Bobo Balde, John Hartson, Henrik Larsson, Stephen McManus, Johan Mjallby, Chris Sutton, Joos Valgaeren and Stanislav Varga, to name just a handful, could all, thanks to their bravery, physicality and aerial ability, be lethal when the ball was floated into their rivals’ penalty box.



When Lennon took over as manager, too, he could call on Efe Ambrose, Daniel Majstorovic, Charlie Mulgrew, Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama, Kelvin Wilson and others to go upfield and use their height to devastating effect in dead ball situations.

The same, however, cannot be said of the team the Northern Irishman has inherited from his countryman Brendan Rodgers. The lack of threat they pose at free-kicks and corners has struck him since he returned to the East End in February. It is something he admits he is keen to address.

When centre-half Jozo Simunovic rose above his Hibernian counterpart Darren McGregor in injury-time in the Ladbrokes Premiership match at Easter Road on Sunday, got on the end of a Callum McGregor delivery and nodded the ball at goal it was the first time the visitors had hurt their hosts at a set piece.

Ofir Marciano, the Israeli goalkeeper, produced an inspired save to keep the scoreline level and earn Paul Heckinbottom’s team a deserved draw. But Lennon was happy just to see the passage of play at long last. He wants more of the same in the final five games of the 2018/19 campaign.

Asked if he thought Celtic need to pose more of a threat at corners and free-kicks, he said: “We do, yeah. Some of the deliveries were good and some were very, very poor. There’s an inconsistency there.

“We work on them, we practice them, but you need to get them right in the moment and give the lads a chance to go and actually attack the ball. We nearly got one at the end from a set play, Marciano made a great save from the header from Jozo. That pleases me obviously, but we need more of that, consistently


Lennon has admitted that a major rebuilding job is required at Celtic this summer and has, even though he is unsure if he will still be in the dugout next term, helped with the ongoing process of identifying potential signings who can help the Parkhead club maintain their domestic dominance.

With Filip Benkovic, Dedryck Boyata and possibly Mikael Lustig poised to move on during the close season, new centre backs will doubtless be high on their list of priorities.

Asked if bringing in individuals who can pose more of a threat at set plays would be a objective in the coming weeks, the interim manager said: “I can’t comment on that at the minute . . . ”

Celtic recorded their third 0-0 draw in six Premiership games at the weekend, but Lennon, who has been deprived the services of Leigh Griffiths since he returned and forced to start Odsonne Edouard in no fewer than seven of the nine matches he has taken charge of, is unconcerned.

The former Bolton and Hibs manager is confident the goals will come and is keen for his side to start games more positively and show greater composure going forward in the four league matches they have remaining – starting against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park this Saturday.

“It would be a worry if we weren’t creating chances,” he said. “Obviously against Hibs we had great chances to win the game. The nil-nils come from not starting in the right manner, I think, and again we didn’t start in the right manner again against Hibs.




I don’t need to tell the players they need to look at it and analyse it themselves. I don’t think it’s a case of them thinking ‘we just need to turn up to win the game’, but certainly our play in the final third on Sunday wasn’t at the acceptable level.”

The draw in Edinburgh means that triple treble chasers Celtic are now unable to win their eighth consecutive Scottish title at Parkhead this weekend.

If they beat Steve Clarke’s side – something that is by no means guaranteed given how well the Ayrshire club have performed against them in the past couple of seasons under the former Chelsea and Liverpool assistant – they need their city rivals Rangers to draw with or lose to Aberdeenat Ibrox the following day.

However, all Lennon, who is hoping to impress enough to be asked to take over on a permanent basis at the end of the season, cares about is the Glasgow club getting over the line.

“I can’t think about that now,” he said. Everyone says ‘oh we could have won it at Easter Road, or at home, or whatever’. We just need to win it and stop thinking about when we’re going to win it.

“It’s about the next game - win it and see where that takes us. If we have to go to Aberdeen (Celtic play at Pittodrie on Saturday week) make sure we do the job properly and win the title and put it to bed and then we can look forward to the cup final.”



Asked if it was understandable if the players became preoccupied with when they are going to win their latest title, Lennon said: “Yeah, of course, and the fans do it too. I get it to a certain extent, but you’ve still got to stay in the present. I’ve prepared for each game one game at a time because it’s just too important not to.”

 

Hopefully we’ll see a big reaction from the players.

I expect us to come out flying, get an early goal, and beat Kilmarnock quite comfortably.