The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
McInnes has sympathy for ‘punchbag’ Lennon
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is disappointed Neil Lennon will be absent from the home dugout when the Dons visit Celtic Park tomorrow.
Lennon’s second stint as Celtic boss ended this week after the Hoops confirmed he had resigned from his position with his team 18 points adrift of Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers.
During his two spells in charge of the Hoops, Lennon guided the Glasgow club to five titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup but drew the ire of the Celtic support after their hopes of a 10th successive title gradually disappeared over the course of a poor campaign.
McInnes is unsure what to expect from Celtic this weekend with John Kennedy placed in interim charge but believes history will look favourably on Lennon’s time at Parkhead.
He said “Having seen some of the comments from the Celtic players, there’s that feeling of regret as you’d expect. You just never know really how these things play out.
“I’m disappointed Neil won’t be in the opposition dugout. I’ve come up against him many times and like to feel as though I can class him as a friend.
“He’s someone who’s had a very successful managerial career. That shouldn’t be forgotten in this.
“Sometimes he can be seen as a bit of a punchbag and managers can be.
“But Neil, in particular this season, has had to contend with a lot and will be devastated that he’s not been able to get that consistency that would have allowed them to challenge Rangers at the top of the league.
“What can’t be forgotten, and what won’t be forgotten, is that he’s been a very successful Celtic manager and at this moment in time, maybe not everyone can see it. Time will be kind to Neil.”
McInnes has also come under scrutiny this season with Saturday’s 1-0 win against Kilmarnock ending a club record run of six games without a goal and easing some of that pressure.
But the Dons boss, who will mark eight years in charge of the Dons next month, admits the criticism managers receive comes with the territory.
He said: “We all get it. When you sign up to be a manager you know you are going to get stick.
“Having spoken to managers from a different era, what managers in this era have to contend with is far greater than they did.
“There are all those outside pressures that you need to ignore and try to get on with the job. “But it can be difficult. “You have to expect tough times as a manager.
“You have to be ready to try to deal with it.
“Going through tough periods, it doesn’t matter how good a manager you are, you are always going to face that at some point in your career.”
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes admits Fraser Hornby’s injury is “an absolute disaster” for the Dons.
The on-loan Reims striker suffered a thigh injury during Saturday’s 1-0 victory against Kilmarnock at Pittodrie.
The Scotland under-21s’ record goalscorer, who has made five appearances since joining on deadline day, could be sidelined for up to eight weeks.
McInnes hopes he will be back available quicker than that timescale and be able to play a part over the closing stretch of the campaign.
He said: “It is an absolute disaster for us.
“It was just as we were getting him up to speed.
“With his second half performance against Celtic and the way he started against Kilmarnock, Fraser was giving us a flavour of what he is capable of.
“There is an understanding from us about getting these boys up to speed.
“It is really unfortunate. “It is his left thigh as well so it is not with repetition from kicking with his right foot which could happen maybe when you have not had a lot of games.
“The fact he has not played a lot of games could be a part in this, who knows?
“Maybe he has just been really unfortunate.
“We need to wait to see how he it is and will him reimaged in a couple of weeks’ time.
“Fraser is feeling good in terms of how it is actually feeling. It doesn’t feel like the type of injury the scan is showing.
“From his own point of view he thinks he will be back quicker.
“We will reimage that in a couple of weeks and see where we are but it is a real blow for us.”
Hornby’s injury leaves the Dons with only two recognised strikers – Florian Kamberi and Callum Hendry – ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Celtic Park.
To make matters worse for the Dons, young forward Michael Ruth, recalled from a loan spell at Arbroath during the January window, is also missing due to illness.
The Dons boss said: “We are down to two strikers as young Michael has been in and out of hospital with, first of all, bronchitis and then glandular fever over the last two or three weeks.
“He is on antibiotics until next Sunday or Monday.
“He won’t be back with us until next week.
“We have two fit strikers at the minute so we are delighted Callum has got up and running.
“Kamberi has been a plus and done well for us.
“We do run the risk at this moment with trying to keep both of them fit and available.”
The Dons boss also expects Saturday’s meeting with manager-less Celtic to come too soon for former Hoops player Jonny Hayes.
The Republic of Ireland international suffered a hamstring problem in the 1-0 defeat at Celtic earlier this month.
McInnes added: “Jonny is improving. Whether he can improve enough for Saturday remains to be seen.
“He is normally quite a quick healer.
“However it is just a week since he did it at Celtic last Wednesday.
“If he doesn’t make Celtic we are hopeful Jonny will make Hamilton next week.”
Mikel Arteta insists he has “complete trust” in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after his captain banished painful memories from 12 months ago to score a brace against Benfica and guide Arsenal into the last 16 of the Europa League.
The Gunners were just three minutes away from crashing out on away goals – despite both legs being played at neutral venues.
Current coronavirus travel restrictions meant the Gunners had to “host” the second leg of their round-of-32 tie in Athens, where Aubameyang’s late header saw them win 3-2 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate, with Scotsman Kieran Tierney also scoring.
Aubameyang has endured a hit-and-miss season and spurned a number of chances in the first leg – but he remains Arsenal’s top goalscorer and has the faith of Arteta.
“I completely trust him because he is producing the chances and you know when Auba has chances he’s going to score goals,” the Arsenal boss said.
Not only had the Gabon forward missed a number of clear chances in the first meeting with Benfica but he was guilty of spurning a sitter when Arsenal were dumped out on away goals at this stage last season, losing to Olympiakos.
Asked if Aubameyang’s winner 364 days on from that game, in the home stadium of Olympiakos, was the kind of poetry football can produce, Arteta said: “Yes, that is to be fair the first image that came through my mind when he scored.
“This is the beautiful thing about football, if you keep going you always have the chance to put it right.”
Meanwhile, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers took the blame for the Foxes’ meek Europa League exit to Slavia Prague.
Second-half goals from Lukas Provod and Abdallah Sima helped Slavia deservedly win 2-0 on the night and on aggregate to reach the last 16.
Rodgers, who was missing the injured James Maddison and banned Kelechi Iheanacho, started with 13-goal Harvey Barnes on the bench with Youri Tielemans in a more advanced position but admitted his decisions failed to pay off.
He said: “It’s my responsibility, I pick the team with the players we have available and clearly it didn’t work as well as I would have liked.
“Overall, they were better than us and deserved to go through. We have to go away and learn from that.”
Elsewhere, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men secured safe passage to the Europa League last-16 against Real Sociedad as 17-year-old Shola Shoretire became the youngest ever player to represent Manchester United in a European match.
United drew 0-0 last night after winning the first leg 4-0.