WE CAN’T AFFORD ANY SLIP-UP NOW
Lennon knows well the fine margins that can settle a title race
EVEN amid a bout of unseasonably mild weather, Neil Lennon recognises the danger of a slip. With two games to go in the first segment of season 2019-20, a nearperfect Premiership campaign to date still hasn’t been able to put clear daylight between the Northern Irishman’s side and chief rivals Rangers.
The remarkable consistency of both Glasgow sides saw just a dozen points spilled between them by the time the Christmas presents were unwrapped. Celtic remain the only side Rangers have lost to. Livingston are still the only team outwith the big two to claim one of their scalps.
With the margin for error over the course of 38 games projected to be slight, each and every encounter is potentially definitive.
Recalling the days, in 2003 and 2005, where a hair’s breadth denied him another league winner’s medal, Lennon considers the visit of Rangers on Sunday as an irrelevance until today’s business in Paisley has been taken care of.
‘I do remind the players that it could come down to any type of game,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you lose due to bad luck or the other team playing brilliantly.
‘I remember losing to Hearts in 2003 when Austin McCann scored. Sometimes you can’t legislate for stuff. It’s fine lines just now.’
As his players prepare to reach the midway point of their league campaign, Lennon has good reason to feel that his warning has been received and understood.
With Rangers routinely swatting aside the flotsam and jetsam as well as some of the division’s more challenging propositions, Lennon’s men have managed to remain one step ahead.
Reflecting on a record that’s seen only a draw with Hibernian and that loss to Livvy blot the copybook, the Celtic manager feels his players have relished the challenge from across the city.
‘Being pushed just increases your instincts and keeps you really focused,’ he explained. ‘You know that you can’t have a slip-up and I think it makes you better.
‘It makes you less complacent or comfortable and I think it’s good for them.
‘Maybe they haven’t had that, although this time last year the two teams were pretty close. But the players are enjoying the pressure side of it.’
Obtaining 49 points from a possible 54 would be highly commendable in any season. Throw in the fact that the manager made not insignificant changes to the squad in this, his first season back in the role, Lennon happily concedes that the form to date has exceeded his expectations.
‘They probably are further ahead,’ he said. ‘(Christopher) Jullien has really kicked on and (Mohamed) Elyounoussi was flying until the injury.
‘(Fraser) Forster has been amazing and (Jeremie) Frimpong has been a revelation.
‘(Moritz) Bauer, Boli (Bolingoli) and (Greg) Taylor have all done very well and added solidity to the team.
‘Hatem (Abd Elhamed) has done well, too, but he won’t make the final two games (before the winter break). We won’t see him and Elyounoussi until next month.’
The momentum Celtic have built up has meant injuries to the likes of the above has not disrupted them to any great degree.
‘It probably comes with winning,’ added Lennon. ‘You get that psychological confidence and adrenalin. You feel good about yourself.
‘It’s important we haven’t made too many changes. When they’re playing well and there’s a flow, you look at them and you think:
“You can go again”. This is our eighth game in a month and, apart from Cluj, we’ve not really changed it too much. That’s really pleased me as well.
‘I’m delighted with the style of play, I’m delighted with the intent and I’m delighted with the wins.’
It has become such a welcome habit that, even when Aberdeen equalised on Saturday at Celtic Park, there was no sense of panic.
‘And nor should there have been,’ said Lennon . ‘I came in at half-time and said: “You’ve been brilliant — maybe just taking an extra touch when you don’t need to”.
‘We said that the goal would come if they kept playing like that. The second goal (from Odsonne Edouard) was beautiful, well worked and a good finish. We got what we deserved.
‘It could have been more comfortable against a really good side but the performance pleased me more than anything.’
In pretty much any of the past eight years, Celtic would have had one hand on the trophy by now.
But this is different — a throwback to Lennon’s playing days — when the Scottish game’s big two seemed to be locked in a perpetual blinking competition.
For that reason, the prospect of going head-to-head with Gerrard’s men on Sunday genuinely won’t be given a thought until it’s the next item of the agenda.
‘We can’t come off it because, if you do that and it doesn’t go your way and you get a sort of negative result, then you put a lot of pressure on yourself going into other games,’ explained Lennon. ‘So there is no reason for me to rest anyone at the minute.
‘They have had a five-day break, so they have had that extra bit of recovery time. I think St Mirren will be a tough nut to crack away. It is one of those games where, if we come off it, we’ll be punished.’
Come what may today and on Sunday, the January window will have a significant bearing on where the big prize goes to.
Seeking between two and four additions, Lennon already has a few irons in the fire.
He’s also comforted by the fact that he seems unlikely, at this juncture, to be troubled by anyone looking to have their release papers stamped.
‘I am quite calm about that. I think we will be fine,’ he added. ‘We don’t have to sell and we don’t want to sell.
‘It’s exciting and there is nobody knocking on my door asking to go. The players have done all this work, so why would they want to give it up?’