One defeat won’t define our season, says Lennon
Lennon presses the reset button for his relentless Bhoys
NEIL LENNON declined to indulge in all the praise thrown his way as he celebrated a year in charge of Celtic last week. Similarly, he won’t allow himself to be consumed by the ‘mountain’ of stick that continues to accumulate in the wake of Thursday’s Europa League exit.
For the second time this season, Lennon found himself in the firing line in the wake of a chaotic European exit at Parkhead.
There were echoes of the Champions League qualifying loss to Cluj in the error-prone defending, the lack of composure in the wake of a potentially game-changing goal and ultimately the sight of a group of visiting players lording it up in front of a small pocket of fans in the corner of the stadium.
As home players trudged dutifully round the pitch to applaud those who had waited behind to offer their sympathy and/or heartfelt thoughts, Lennon retreated to the sanctity of his office.
He has vowed to pick up his players in time for today’s Scottish Cup tie against St Johnstone. And he
insists he will have plenty of support from his own inner circle.
‘My family, friends, people who know me will help,’ he said. ‘Listen, it is a sore one, but I have to dismiss it as quickly as possible. You can analyse it to death but what you can’t do is legislate for basic individual errors that you don’t expect from good players who have been brilliant for me.
‘And that is why I am not here to criticise them. We know we have made mistakes but we win as a team and we lose as a team. If any flak comes my way, I will take it and take the pressure off the players because they have been magnificent. I am sitting here, a year in, with three trophies and it is all down to them.
‘People like (Jozo) Simunovic. People like (Odsonne) Edouard. People like Callum McGregor, like Scott Brown. I am not for one minute going to criticise them.
‘As a team, we made basic errors that you don’t see coming. I think it will galvanise them.’
Lennon’s analysis may be thin but the message he delivers in public will not necessarily reflect the words spoken within the confines of Celtic’s Lennoxtown base.
Since taking charge he has been unstinting in his praise of Simunovic but, while he may have refused to flay the Croatian in public for the under-hit back-pass that let Michael Santos in for Copenhagen’s opener, recriminations will surely follow.
Then there was the loose piece of play that saw Tom Rogic misjudge a chested pass to the toiling Scott Brown. Later, Kristoffer Ajer’s failure to hold firm as Dame N’Doye bludgeoned his way to the third.
All preventable mishaps but symptomatic of a wider team performance that, not for the first time, openly invited danger.
Lennon’s team excelled in the Europa League group stage, not least in the pivotal double header against Lazio where they triumphed home and away.
On each occasion, Celtic claimed late winners from Christopher Jullien and Olivier Ntcham and a cynic might argue that they scored so late that there was simply no time for the team to react in the panicked manner that saw them collapse so easily against Cluj and Copenhagen.
On a topsy-turvy evening against the Romanians last August, Celtic finally seemed to seize control of the tie when Ryan Christie put Lennon’s team 3-2 up. Rather than lock the game down, Celtic invited trouble.
Edouard’s 82nd-minute equaliser from the penalty spot on Thursday would not have put Celtic through but the same principle ought to have applied, even if only to allow a reset for extra time.
Yet roared on by a charged crowd eager to see their team score again, Celtic became stretched and detached. Greg Taylor continued to creep higher up the touchline from his starting position at left-back.
Rogic kept scanning for pockets to get on the half turn.
Nir Bitton would have seemed an obvious choice to help shore the game up but ended the night as one of six unused substitutes.
Passed fit after limping off with a calf injury in the away leg, the ever-willing Brown was left to soldier on and Copenhagen capitalised on their opponents’ distracted minds and tired legs.
‘It was very frustrating,’ said Lennon. ‘When we got a deserved equaliser you are thinking, right, there are eight minutes to go, we will take it into extra time and take it from there. I don’t know what we were thinking.
I will take pressure off the players as they have been magnificent
‘We put ourselves under pressure and gave the ball away in an awful area and then didn’t react anywhere near well enough.
‘When you give goals away in the manner which we did then we give oxygen to the opposition and give them something to hold on to.
‘We just had to concentrate and manage the game but we didn’t do that anywhere near as well as I expected them to.
‘It is my job to pick them up and I’ll do everything I can. They know that they made mistakes in a game they were in total control of.
‘I said to them that even if they didn’t score they would go through because it was 0-0. But we went out, made a mistake and got punished for it. We got ourselves back into it again and then two minutes later we have given away an awful goal. We only have ourselves to blame.
‘We let ourselves down on the game management. It was unnecessary. The third goal was academic. The second goal was the one that won Copenhagen the tie.
‘They are devastated because it is a great opportunity lost after such a great campaign.’
Lennon’s focus now shifts to today’s Scottish Cup tie in Perth.
He will have Christie available for selection after suspension and it’s likely Griffiths will also start.
The evidence suggests the carrot of a fourth consecutive domestic Treble will focus minds ahead of kick-off against St Johnstone.
‘I think they owe it to themselves,’ added Lennon. ‘Of course there will be a mountain of criticism coming their way and probably my way and the backroom staff’s way.
‘It might be a bit unjustified but that is just the nature of a club as big as this with the expectation levels here.
‘I’ve got good players. Listen, they’re not robots. We’ve won every game more or less since we came back in 2020. We’ve had a couple of mad moments in an important game — it happens. They’ve got my total backing.’