Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE GLORIOUS TWELFTH
Lennon: After 11 trophies on the spin my players deserve credit - not the flak they are on the end of & it’s unjustified
NEIL LENNON last night insisted his Celtic troops should be lauded and not lashed.
And th e d ef i ant manager is adamant his winners are victims of their own success and ready to roar back “stronger than ever.”
Lennon heads for Aberdeen tomorrow convinced the champions have renewed vigour.
Last weekend’s meek l oss to Rangers brought an avalanche of criticism, yet the gaffer has total faith in his trophy-laden team. And Lennon (inset) believes the signs were there during the 3-1 midweek defeat to AC Mi l an that Celtic are sharpening the claws.
He said: “We are making too much of one result and one performance [against Rangers].
“We will come back stronger than ever. They have the bit between their teeth again. We are not panicking. We are staying calm.
“We have great belief in the players and I think I have every right to believe in them because of what they have done and what they can do.
“Some of the criticism is over-balanced against them. People take them for granted.
“It’s no different from last season. We made a good start to the league campaign and we lost a game. We lost a game at Livingston last year and our response was great, so we’re looking to get onto a good winning run again and there is no reason why we can’t.”
When it was put to Lennon his troops are victims of their own lofty silverware standards, he said: “Yes, I think so.”
Celtic could win a fourth successive Treble in the next six weeks and he added: “I think people have sort of bypassed that, the chance of a 12th trophy in a row.
“It’s probably something we’ll never see again and that’s why these players should be lauded. Their consistency is fantastic.
“They will come again, there is no question of that. They will have the bit between their teeth with these games coming up now.
“They get plenty of criticism elsewhere. I am there to look after them and protect them. They have been amazing for me. They will fall now and again. It is my job to pick them up. They have earned enough credit to be given a bit of slack.
”You talk about character, they have it in abundance. Every game since the day I walked back in the door every game has been a pressure game.
“It was i mpor t ant [ Al b i a n] Aj e t i a n d [Leigh] Griffiths got minutes and for Ryan [Christie] as well.
“We are going to have to be softly, softly with the guys who have had the Covid.”