Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Hoops’ hunger pleases Lennon after opening rout
CELTIC manager Neil Lennon was delighted to see his team’s hunger for goals as they began the Premiership season with a 7-0 thrashing of St Johnstone.
The champions recorded their biggest win since an identical scoreline against Motherwell in Ronny Deila’s final match in charge in May 2016.
Ryan Christie set up Mikey Johnston for a ninth-minute opener before scoring a hat-trick and Odsonne Edouard and substitutes Olivier Ntcham and Leigh Griffiths completed the rout.
Celtic had only scored more than two goals on one occasion between the time Lennon took over from Brendan Rodgers in late February and the end of last season, and he had spoken about his desire to see them play with more attacking intent.
Lennon said: “I think there are more goals in them. There’s a belief when they play like that, take their chances and shoot and create.
“We weren’t tippy-tappy, we were far more purposeful against a team who can be dogged and difficult to break down.
“What pleased me more than anything is we got a good early goal and built on it, we didn’t take our foot off the pedal.”
Forward Christie admitted confidence played a part in the early shots that sailed into Zander Clark’s net but added: “That and the fear of getting told off if I don’t do that. The manager has said he wants me to shoot on sight if I get a chance. “I’m delighted to hear that.” St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright said: “We have got to learn from it. There was a severe lack of leadership out on the pitch and that’s something that has to be addressed.”