Celtic pride comes to the four
NEIL LENNON praised his Celtic players for producing a first-half display that was the equal of any he has witnessed in his two spells in charge at the club as they strolled to a 4-0 victory against Aberdeen. The Northern Irishman watched the visitors claim a seventh straight win at Pittodrie courtesy of a blistering four-goal burst without reply before the interval. It rendered the second half a non-event, with goals from Odsonne Edouard, Jeremie Frimpong, James Forrest and Mohamed Elyounoussi
dispelling any notion that Lennon’s side would suffer a hangover from Thursday night’s victory over Lazio.
‘It’s up there,’ Lennon said. ‘It was just relentless, the quality of the play. Fantastic to watch.
‘It was just outstanding football. We came in at 4-0, we could have had a few more in the second half, but we had control of the game.
‘The mentality of the team was brilliant today and their fitness levels came shining through.
‘The overriding emotion is one of immense pride in that performance. The players take an enormous amount of pride in that as well.’
Celtic’s only domestic defeat of the season came at Livingston immediately after defeating Cluj in the Europa League.
Asked if his players answered all the questions surrounding them after the defeat in West Lothian, Lennon replied: ‘The players did, yeah. You are the ones asking all the questions all the time, but they are answering it in spades.
‘We’ve had a brilliant week. That’s ten goals in the league (after a 6-0 win over Ross County) and a fantastic win against Lazio.
‘Mentally and physically, it could have been draining for them. They have recovered brilliantly and gone out and played some outstanding team football.’
Effusive in his praise for the way his team played 72 hours after beating the Italians and without the suspended Ryan Christie, Lennon added: ‘I think a lot of teams would have struggled with us today, with the mood the players are in.
‘We sent them out to start the game well. That was important. Obviously it’s a brilliant individual goal (from Edouard) and then you can just see the confidence and the class oozing out of all of them really.
‘There were so many good individual performances — Kristoffer Ajer, I thought Tom Rogic came on to a game as well, it was just brilliant to watch.
‘We have a front four which can hurt any team, really. It’s a great place we are in at the minute.
‘We are not getting carried away, we have another big week coming up. but it’s the end of another fantastic week for the players and the club.’
Asked which of the four goals pleased him most, Lennon replied: ‘I loved the Forrest goal. Mind you, Edouard’s was a bit special as well.
‘It was a special goal from a special player, a moment of individual brilliance.
‘Even Jeremie’s goal, the way we worked it, the combination play around the box, against a team who were difficult to break down, was sensational. We were red-hot today, absolutely red-hot.’
On Frimpong, the 18-year-old who scored his first goal since joining from Manchester City in the summer, Lennon said: ‘He is a good player. We see him as an emerging talent. He has probably made that progression a little quicker than what we expected.
‘but it is difficult to keep him out of the team with the way he is playing. not just his enthusiasm and his energy, it’s his quality and his defensive capabilities as well. They were all in evidence again.
‘He followed up a great performance last week with another tremendous performance.’
Lennon admitted that he sensed the top-drawer display was coming before a ball was kicked.
He added: ‘We knew the sense of occasion, how important the game was and how difficult the opposition could be. So you could sense that they were up for the game.
‘I can’t criticise the mentality all season, really. Even at Livingston, we started the game well and the red card (for Christie) changed things a bit.
‘In terms of their character, when you have players like Scott brown and Callum McGregor, they just drive the team on consistently. It just makes my job a lot easier in that regard.’