Squad must ‘look in mirror’ and repay Lennon, says Elyounoussi
attacker Mohamed Elyounoussi believes he and his team-mates must be honest about their shortcomings and absolved Neil Lennon from blame for the club’s predicament.
The Southampton loanee believes it is too easy to attribute Celtic’s failures to the club’s manager, who seems unlikeceltic ly to survive a four-game winless league run that has left the Parkhead side unlikely to finish within ten points of champions-elect Rangers, far less overhaul them.
The latest of many defensive lapses condemned Lennon to what appeared a tenureending 2-2 draw at Livingston on Wednesday. Elyounoussi made a scoring return to the side following the ten-day isolation period forced on 13 of the squad, as well as Lennon and assistant John Kennedy, who had been ruled close contacts of Christopher Jullien after his Covid-19 positive test on the club’s return from their Dubai training camp.
Celtic have been hampered by all manner of issues arising from the pandemic, but the 26-year-old believes introspection is required to recognise everything that has gone wrong as Rangers have established a 20-point advantage in the Premiership.
“Everyone has to take responsibility, look at themselves in the mirror. Everyone can improve, everyone can put more effort in,” he said. “But I think everyone is working hard in training. You can see that from the intensity in training. We haven’t done anything differently this year from last year. I think it is just the small margins which are against us. There have been too many draws, too many games where we have been up and have conceded late on. That is what is killing us at the moment.
“Look, it hasn’t been a normal season, with the pandemic and everything going around. There have been things outside football, like our isolation. But it is the same for everyone. So that is no excuse.
"We have to be honest here, we cannot look for excuses any more. Everyone needs to pick themselves up, dig in deeper and work hard. "There is always the next game. We have to keep looking
Their five consecutive home encounters without a win during that period was their longest such run since 1957-58, when they failed to secure a victory across eight straight games in their own environs.
In their disastrous Europa League group campaign, the 19 goals conceded was the most by any club across the entire sectional phase, Dundalk and Ludogorets Razgrad sharing this unwanted honour. It should be noted, though, that Celtic still claimed four points, while these fellow last placers were beaten in all six group games.
• The Champions League second round qualifying defeat against Ferencvaros was the earliest exit from that phase of the competition since 2005.
• The home League Cup exit to Ross County in November not only brought to an end a record run of 34 straight domestic cup-tie successes. It was a first home cup defeat since a 2014 Scottish Cup loss to Aberdeen.