Neil Lennon

It would be fine if we were on a winning run and it was an isolated draw. But it’s not.

I * hate Brendan Rodgers but I’m so glad he had the season he had (which he’s being slated for) because we’ve dropped 6 points in a short space of time and could have been in real trouble if we weren’t so far ahead.

 

Obviously not. They’re being instructed to play how Lennon wants them to play and so far it doesn’t look like they’re taking it in. Hard time of the year to try start from scratch and play a different way.

 

We had our worst start in over 20 years this season, it’s just aswell others have taken points off each other tbh. We had a good few games after the winter break, but even last season our performances were terrible under Rodgers especially at home.

 

Just my opinion but I genuinely don't believe we would've had those 3 goalless draws had things been tighter in the league.

This squad is lazy when the pressure is off but tend to do just enough when there is pressure to deliver. Our squad has become bloated, complacent and disinterested.

Hopefully we get to this summer having completed the Treble Treble then we can look at a big revamp of the squad to clear-out the dead-wood, get in fresh blood with a hunger to prove themselves and bring back a relentless drive to consistently win.

 

No mate I just think lennons trying to change the way they play and tactics after playing a certain way under Rodgers all year. It’s too late to change things now.caught between a rock and a hard place. Lennons obviously trying to put his own mark on things but it’s too late in the season to try that

 

At this point in time we are only 4 points off last seasons total. We should have surpassed it already. Our record this season when comparing it to the past 10 years is just fine, so we made up for the slow start.

You can criticise Rodgers performances all you want. I sat through them. Fact is the team delivered when we really needed to. 3 draws in quick succession when we are trying to wrap the league up is a red flag and far too many people are denying this.

Lennon has done well in the cup games and we’ve been defensively good. However if we lose that final it’s all for nothing and the league games apart from the huns have been a major warning sign.

 

You can’t say if they would have or not, we will never know. But I do agree with most of your points. That’s upto the management and senior players who know what it’s about to change that mentality if that’s the case.

 

My whole point is the warning signs have been there since Rodgers second season, this isn’t just a new thing since Lennon took over.

 

Some people are so blind. We’ve been utter bollocks for two years. We’ve played well in a 4 week spell over 24 months, when Christie first came in to the team during the Hearts game at Murrayfield.

The game at Ibrox in December, injuries or not, was the most heartless performance from a Celtic team I’ve seen since Jarosik and Donati anchored the midfield in a Rogering at the same venue about 12 year ago.

We’re nowhere near as good as some fans think we are man for man, hence the outcry after drawing away to Hibs, which really shouldn’t be a surprise considering how incompetent we are in key areas all over the pitch.

The rest of the teams in the league are woeful which makes our poor performances more worrying, but I feel that’s an indictment of our board and scouting team rather than any of the staff working on the team itself, including Lennon who ultimately is the best man for the job.

 

We are further ahead now than we were under Rodgers.

 

Which is fair, but Lennon has also seen a 16 point lead (or if we are being fair a 13 point lead) be whittled down to 9 when the league should be won.

I know this bit is all speculation and nonsense as let's be honest here, we should be utterly destroying Killie, but should be draw that his first 8 league games in charge will have been 1 point better than our worst start in the league for 20 something years.

Rodgers * the start and got 15 points out of the first 8 league games while having to contest with early euro starters and I think one domestic cup game.

Lennon has had to deal with two extra cup games with a third in the way and at worst is getting 16 points out of his first 8 games back.

I concede the fact though, that Lennon does perhaps have a more fatigued squad then Rodgers albeit they'd still off been hungover from two massive seasons getting the double Treble and participating in Europe two seasons in a row at the start of the season.

 

I think there's enough evidence to suggest this is the case. The fact that we are unbeaten in domestic cup competitions in 3 seasons is a good indicator.

So all of our off-days have just so happened to be in league games? A league that most of the squad have won comfortably year after year since they arrived.

It's easy saying that the management should change the attitude of the squad in theory but the reality isn't quite as simple. We have a bloated squad of players that know they have no long-term future at the club. Guys like Gamboa, De Vries, Compper Allan, Benyu, Hendry, Bitton are all training with the first-year squad and bound to becoming disinterested due to the lack of game time, that undoubtedly will rub off and affect others.

The rat spoke of building a 'hungry and competitive squad' yet through abysmal transfer policy and boardroom *-swinging that resulted in us not acquiring targets we ended up with the complete opposite. A core of decent players who knew they'd be called upon irrespective of form and a second-string of players who when selected were not upto standard.

Never underestimate the impetus that bringing new players in that are hungry to prove themselves can have on the rest of the squad. We seen it when Christie came into the squad in November and began playing - effectively a new signing given he was out on loan prior - and we seen it in Jan/Feb after we had brought in Burke, Weah & Toljan.

 

You think Lennon is doing better than Rodgers? You never answered my question before about being happy with what he’s doing here when you isolate his time in charge.

 

I just think that core of players are all too good to let themselves get dragged down by the likes of Hendry who might be sulking in training. The likes of Ajer, Lustig, Tierney, Brown, McGregor, Forrest, Christie and Rogic are all above that in my opinion. They know the importance of every game cos they’ve been here before. They know the feeling of winning the league and they will want to get that over the line. So why haven’t we?

 

That's the core that I was referring to. Let's not forget that all of those you've listed have been out injured at some point since Lennon took over 2 months ago.

He hasn't had the opportunity to use that full complement of trusted players all at the same time and has had to turn to the disinterested squad players I mentioned eg. Ntcham & Sinclair or inexperienced academy players like Henderson & Johnston.

I agree that our performance levels have been pretty disappointing on several occasions in the last 2 months but I don't place all of that on Lennon's shoulders. We had been pish for the most part of the season earlier except for our run in Jan/Feb and our small purple patch in November. Prior to that we effectively won 17/18 season in 2nd gear, not winning more than 4 consecutive league games all season.

The squad has become lazy and complacent. You can even see it during games when we take a lead, there's rarely a hunger to relentlessly pursue more goals and put the game to bed. This isn't a Lennon thing in my eyes, it's a squad thing.

A clear-out of the dead-wood, an injection of genuine quality to bring back a competitive edge in our squad and a freeing up of spaces that gives our academy players a target to aim for if they're good enough is what we need. The rat said that's what he was looking to bring but has left us with the entire opposite.

 

By just one point.

We are averaging fewer points and fewer goals per game under Lennon, and our goal difference is shrinking.


Celtic (under Rodgers)

Points: 63 from 27 games (2.33)
Goals scored: 64 (2.37)
Coals conceded: 15 (0.56)
Goal difference: 49 (1.81)

Celtic (under Lennon)

Points: 15 from 7 games (2.14)
Goals scored: 7 (1.00)
Goals conceded: 2 (0.29)
Goal difference: 5 (0.71)


We are fortunate that our nearest rivals have also suffered a slight dip in form recently - despite the fact that they are now outscoring us.


Huns (first 27 games)

Points: 55 from 27 games (2.04)
Goals scored: 60 (2.22)
Goals conceded: 20 (0.74)
Goal difference: 40 (1.48)

Huns (last seven games)

Points: 14 from 7 games (2.00)
Goals scored: 13 (1.86)
Goals conceded: 4 (0.57)
Goal difference: 9 (1.29)

 

Having only one available nominal striker (who, by the way, doesn't like being in the penalty box), isn't helping reduce the amount of draws.

 

We have two in Édouard and Weah, neither of whom are goal-shy.

We have rarely had more than two strikers available over the past few years.