THE END GAME?
Lennon takes step closer to exit – 20 years after Parkhead arrival
THIS wasn’t the kind of anniversary party anyone at Celtic had in mind.
Crash barriers rather than party hats. Mounted police instead of special guests. Twenty years since the first date and talk of divorce papers being drawn up.
Nei l Lennon walked through the door of Celtic Park on the same day in 2000 but two decades on he is surely a huge step closer to the exit.
Fair play to St Johnstone. Parkhead chiefs threw up a ring of steel around the ground to keep angry fans at bay and the Perth side brought a blue barrier of their own to block the route to goal.
Callum Davidson’s men were superbly solid and they will have been gutted Moi
CELTIC..... ST JOHNSTONE.....
MICHAEL GANNON AT CELTIC PARK
Elyounoussi snatched a point at the end after Chris Kane’s late opener.
The strike won’t have helped under-fire Hoops or their manager though. This was end of days stuff.
Parkhead powerbrokers Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell have been fiercely loyal to Lennon. Admirably so amid incredible pressure.
But even they must see Celtic’s season going down the drain.
Two wins in 12 games is an abysmal run for any manager let alone one in these parts.
Lennon has enjoyed incredible success at Celts as player and a manager in the past but it’s not helping him in the present as far as fans are concerned.
This is a side completely bereft of confidence but Lennon has faith he can salvage the situation. Not many else do, mind you.
He’s tried the carrot, the stick, the whole lot. The reaction has been minimal.
Yet again there were fans outside Parkhead at the end. Celtic might have shown some positive signs in Milan in midweek but this was back to misery on the home front.
There was no energy, no invention, so imagination.
And there’s very little hope of winning the title now as well. This 13-point gap is mammoth. Even Lennon admitted afterwards their chances look slim.
It’s some admission when we’re not even at Christmas.
St Johnstone were the latest in a growing line of sides to do a job on Celts.
This hasn’t tended to be a fixture St Johnstone circled on the calendar, alongside the Santa visit and the day they might get back into tier two.
Their record against the Hoops has been a horror show since they last won in the final days of Ronny Deila.
It’s been 16 games, 48 goals and several doings since then – and St Johnstonenever even managed a goal in the 11 previous games.
But they must have sensed vulnerability when they rocked up yesterday. There certainly wasn’t any apparent fear factor.
No wonder. St Johnstone came in on the kind of run Celtic would have killed for.
Davidson’s troops had gone 10 in a row without defeat and you could see the confidence. They could have been ahead inside 10 minutes.
It took a goalline clearance from Nir Bitton’s napper to divert Stevie May’s downward smashed volley after Ali McCann’s free-kick was only half cleared.
Celtic shouldn’t have needed a jolt but they got one anyway. They did spark into life.
Tom Rogic nodded wide and Callum McGregor superbly sliced open the Saints backline to send
Odsonne Edouard bearing down on goal.
The Frenchman rattled his effort right at Zander Clark and Diego Laxalt wildly scuffed the rebound but it was something to build on.
Not that the Perth men wer e al l o w i ng any foundations to be laid.
St Johnstone lost Michael O’Halloran to injury early on but they refused to lose their shape.
Davidson’s back five as a tight unit, the midfield also had safety in numbers and it was elephants in phone boxes in there at times.
E d o u a rd su f f e r e d claustrophobia any time he dropped deep to get involved.
Celtic were struggling for inspiration but the frustration was growing because St
Johnstone were doing a super number on them.
At times in the first half it seemed like they had a couple of extra players on the pitch and they were content to sit and wait for the odd sniff of their own.
They nearly got one right before half time as well. Bitton and Scott Brown got in a mess after Kane’s burst forward as the pair completely lost track of where the ball was to allow McCann t o scamper towards the byline but his cutback was out of May’s reach. The Perth striker fired miles over soon after the interval after Christopher Jullien’s slack pass out was cut out and it was maybe as well Celtic Park was empty as the boos would have been deafening. Even when they did prise open the defence, the ball still wouldn’t drop for them. Jullien met Ryan Christie’s corner, his header came off Nir Bitton, was pawed out by Clark with Brown struggling to smuggle it over the line.
It was no longer just frustration for the champions – it was utter desperation.
Lennon chucked on Leigh Griffiths and David Turnbull and the pair lifted the tempo. Turnbull at last had a shot on target, with a low rasper Clark did well to turn away.
A sense of inevitability was increasing. Saints struck when May was allowed to skip down the left and Kane got beyond his man to bundle home.
Yet Celtic did hit back, with Elyounoussi looping his back header over the keeper to set up a frantic finale. It wasn’t to be. Lennon has vowed to fight on. But for how much longer?