NEIL LENNON remains defiant after the club’s latest defeat.
Here’s how things stand at present:
- Two wins in nine games.
- 21 goals conceded in those nine games.
- Out of Europe with two games to be spare.
- Eleven points behind in the title race (With two games in hand).
Over and above that, our performances in the games we have won have been woeful. Our last clean sheet in the league came at St Johnstone and we won that game in the last five minutes with two very late goals.
Neil Lennon doesn’t seem to grasp what the rest of the supporters are seeing.
Asked if he thinks he can turn it around, the Celtic manager told RecordSport:
“Of course I do. I know this group better than anybody.
“Look, at the end of last year we lost to Rangers and everyone was writing us off.
“We were getting slaughtered from all and sundry, whether it was our own supporters or everyone else, so we’ve been here before.
“We put a great run together in the second half of last season and we can do that again. This feels a little bit different, we have a bit more work to do, but we’re still quite confident we’ll turn it around.
“We are bitterly disappointed with the run that we are on, but we know we have the minerals to turn it around.
“I’ve been in situations like this before as a manager. I’ve been in situations like this as a player. There is no reason for me to believe that we can’t turn it around.
“They are an excellent group. I think they are just lacking a little bit of unity at the minute. I don’t think it’s a major football issue. I think it’s more psychological than anything else really.”
The Irishman was then asked what’s gone horribly wrong since this same team managed to defeat Lazio and qualify from their group with two games to spare:
“That is what I am scratching my head about. That’s the question I asked in the dressing room afterwards. Why have we gone the other way?
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence in individuals or in the team themselves.
“I was asking them why we’re conceding goals? Are we lacking confidence in ourselves? Are we lacking that as a group?
“It was a conversation I put out to the players to get their opinions.
“We’re hoping, having spoken about it, they can galvanise themselves from that.
“It’s not good enough, it’s unacceptable the manner of the defeat.
“But I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game 4-1. Things aren’t going for us at the minute.
“The performance was nowhere near as disjointed or as bad as it was three weeks ago and I felt we deserved better.
“It’s my job to keep with them and for them to keep with us to turn a corner.
“We can’t spook the players. You cajole them and you stick together.
“That’s what we’ve done and what we’ll always do. I’m not going to come out here and criticise them for a lack of effort or a lack of belief because there is plenty of criticism out there.
“For 35 minutes in the second half, that’s as good as we’ve played in Europe for a while. And yet we still got beat 4-1 and you’re left scratching your head why.
“They’re going to get criticised from all quarters so the last thing they need is extra criticism from any of us on the coaching staff.
“We know we have to be more consistent now. Not only game by game, but consistent within games.
“Right now it’s 30 minutes of good stuff then five minutes of shooting ourselves in the foot at times and we need to eradicate that.”
Celtic have a game against Ross County in the League Cup on Sunday. Anything less than a convincing win will be another hammer blow for the support.
We need results but we need to see the team is going in the right direction, right now it’s not. When are changes made? When the league is already lost?
Neil Lennon’s backs against the wall and he knows his job will be on the line. While everyone is grateful for his service to this club over the years, it shouldn’t make him immune from hard decisions.
