The next six are make or Lennon ... if any more big then my old going to be some serious
This simply can’t go
NEIL LENNON was disgusted at his team being leaked and has said he will get to the bottom of it.
But the Celtic fans want him to get to the bottom of other things.
Like what is going on with the performances? Why have the levels been so low this term?
Why are the top players underperforming? Is it because he called some of them out? Why have two big tests been failed badly?
Ferencvaros at home in the Champions League. Failed. Rangers at Celtic Park. Failed.
It is now time to stop papering over cracks and Neil needs to get them firing again before people start looking at his own future.
Celtic face massive games in Europe against AC Milan and Lille as well as domestically against Aberdeen and Motherwell in the next three weeks before the November international break.
The next six games are make or break for him.
If there are more major setbacks or the side doesn’t get into gear in that period, my old team-mate is going to be under big pressure and serious questions will start to get asked.
I do feel it is ridiculous for people to be calling for his head at the moment. That’s unfair.
He’s earned the right to find the response.
But what is not ridiculous and perfectly fair is to ask serious questions about what is going on at the moment or to suggest it simply cannot continue in this vein much longer if Celts want to win the 10.
They can’t let Rangers get away and open a big gap.
If Celtic don’t improve, Neil’s future in the job is going to come under serious scrutiny.
Feelings will grow that the players need to hear another voice. That’s not an unreasonable statement to make.
This leaked team thing does raise one big question. If it’s one of the players it may tell the story of a restless dressing room.
The players owe the boss more than they are giving.
We’ ll now see who’s committed as they will either keep their manager or put his job in severe jeopardy.
Celtic have been bitty since the start of the season.
You can only get away with that for so l ong and this goes beyond the Rangers game.
Let’s be clear. There has to be some balance put into those post-match assessments.
There is not a club in Europe who wouldn’t be affected by not having any of their top three strikers ready to start a game.
Add into the equation the loss of Ryan Christie and James Forrest and you can make a decent case as to why Allan McGregor didn’t have a real save to make.
Celtic were hit hard. No one is denying that. But you can’t just roll over. Regardless of the odds stacked against you, you have to fight. That is a given for any player. Gutless is a word I would never use in the same sentence as Neil. I played alongside him. He doesn’t shirk any battle. It’s also a word you would never usually connect with a group of players who have won 11 straight domestic trophies. But hand on heart that’s how they looked on Saturday. They looked as though they were feeling sorry for themselves. And they looked shot the minute Connor Goldson scored the opener. Heads dropped. It was like they had accepted their fate with a readymade excuse to hand. That’s not acceptable. Celtic didn’t have firstpick players but they still had plenty. Steven Gerrard was very cute after the match when he started rhyming off the price tags of the
Celtic players who were available. I don’t blame him. He’s quite right.
But those players were nowhere near it. And this isn’t just about Saturday.
They’ve been nowhere near it for most of the season.
It’s fine to dig out results when not playing well.
That’s commendable so long as you turn the corner at some point. But Celtic aren’t turning the corner.
They are toiling. They are a hard watch. I had to turn the St Johnstone game off a couple of weeks ago because it was so bad.
People get caught up in systems and formations and sometimes too much can be made of it all.
However, when these tweaks are done at the right times they can have a major effect.
You cannot say the 3-5-2 system does not work for Celtic.
The second half of last season showed that it can.
But you need to have the right personnel for a system to work and Celtic haven’t really found the right attacking combinations all season.
I’ve had arguments with people mouthing off about how the system was wrong against Rangers.
He should have gone to a four at the back, etc. But no one can give me sensible answers about who could have played where with the players who were absent without more square pegs in round holes.
But again while you can cut some slack for Saturday you can’t for the two months before it.
At the back, the absences of Nir Bitton, Christopher Jullien and Hatem Elhamed were a setback but you can’t say they were pivotal.
Stephen Welsh did nothing wrong and the simple fact is it was his experienced partners Shane Duffy and Kristoffer Ajer who got in a fankle for the crucial opening goal from Goldson.
Serious questions need answered. There’s no panic.
If Celtic win their game in hand they are just a point behind with almost 30 games to go.
But Celtic need to shake themselves out of this lethargy y and, more importantly, need to accept there are worrying issues.
The manager can’t paper over cracks any more.
Neil needs to fix it. And the team needs to step up.
They have failed the big tests in the season.
He and the team can’t afford to fail many more.