Mo dials M for murder as Len criticism is put on hold for now
NEIL LENNON hailed underfire forward Mohamed Elyounoussi after the Celtic attacker defied the critics to score a hattrick in the 4- 1 Premiership win over Motherwell at Fir Park.
The Parkhead boss had found himself under pressure and his players heavily criticised after a painful 4- 1 Europa League defeat by Sparta Prague on Thursday.
On a ni ght t h e champions slumped to the bottom of Group H with one point from nine, the Norway international was spotted on his phone after being substituted.
Elyounoussi was on top form in Lanarkshire yesterday though as he put Celtic in control with a firsthalf double.
Well defender Declan Gallagher reduced the deficit in the 72nd minute but Elyounoussi sealed his hat- trick three minutes later to take his Hoops tally to 11 for the
season before late second- half sub Olivier Ntcham added a fourth.
Lennon said: “I had a brief chat with Elyounoussi. He explained to me what had happened and that was the end of it.
“He is a top professional. I have no problem with his attitude or the way he behaves around the place. It was never an issue for me.
“You are all analysing everything we are doing at the minute. Elyounoussi on his phone and the body language, this, that and the other.
“I got what I wanted today. Elyounoussi scored a hat- trick today after being criticised unreasonably for looking at a result on his phone the other night.
“I think that’s unfair but he has responded in the right way. We asked him at half- time to go and get the hat- trick he didn’t get in Lille and it was a brilliant third goal.
“Our reaction to conceding was excellent and I thought we should have won the game by more.”
Lennon admitted there were a “few choice words on Thursday, not going crazy”.
He said: “We analysed what we did wrong and the response was great. We didn’t panic. We don’t get too low and we don’t get too high.
“We have a lot of work to do and a long way to go but to come away and score four is a good sign. That’s a good barometer.”