DEPLETED LIONS TA ME 10-MAN CELTIC
NEIL Lennon revealed in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland before the Livingston match last night that he had a private conversation with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell in the wake of his explosive pre-match press conference on Monday.
He can expect to have another quiet chat with the Parkhead supremo in the coming days after this diabolical display and wretched result.
It was highly unlikely the quadruple treble winners would, with Rangers holding a 21-point lead in the Premiership, win the Scottish title and complete 10-In-ARow before kick-off in this rescheduled fixture.
However, this 2-2 draw with opponents who were missing a raft of key players at the Tony Macaroni Arena in the first of their three games in hand was the last thing which they and their manager needed given the intense pressure they were both under.
It ended any chance Celtic have of staging an improbable fightback in the league and will almost certainly end Lennon’s second spell as manager.
Not for the first time in a tumultuous season, they were woeful at the back, lacking in both bite and creativity in midfield and toothless in attack. They were very fortunate to pick up a point at the end of the 90 minutes.
Lennon cajoled and encouraged his men to the end as the snow fell and covered the pitch. But it is very hard to see how the Northern
Irishman can survive this latest slip-up. He has won just seven of his last 21 games.
He had few backers among the Glasgow club’s fanbase after the European humiliations, Betfred Cup exit, poor Premiership form and Dubai debacle. He will surely have lost any supporters in the boardroom now.
There were, with all but one of the contingent that had been forced to self-isolate after the controversial warm weather training break in the United Arab Emirates returning to the fray, no fewer than six changes to the visitors’ starting line-up.
Vasilis Barkas, Kristoffer Ajer, Greg Taylor, Ryan Christie, Mohamed
Elyounoussi and Leigh Griffiths all came in as Conor Hazard, Tony Ralston, Diego Laxalt, Jeremie Frimpong,
Tom Rogic and Mikey Johnston dropped out. Scott Bain,
Albian Ajeti, Scott Brown and Patryk Klimala were all, too, named among the substitutes.
Celtic did not name the second player who tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, but the absence of Odsonne Edouard, their first choice striker and second top scorer, from the squad suggested that it was him.
Yet, David Martindale, with one eye on the Betfred Cup semi-final against St Mirren at Hampden on Sunday, fielded a much-changed Livingston team to the one that had ground out a 0-0 draw at Parkhead at the weekend.
Robby McCrorie, Jack Fitzwater, Jack McMillan, Julien Serrano, Alan Forrest, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jack Hamilton took over from Stryjek, Nicky Devlin, Efe Ambrose, Marvin Bartley, Craig Sibbald, Josh Mullin and Scott Robinson.
It had been nearly 13 years since Celtic had triumphed in West Lothian and almost 14 since they last won a league match at Almondvale. Their hosts had been on a nine game unbeaten run. So the venue and opponents were not, it is fair to say, the first that
Lennon would have chosen.
Celtic centre half Shane Duffy required medical attention in the ninth minute following a collision with Livingston keeper McCrorie. He suffered a nasty head knock as he challenged for a David Turnbull chip in the air.
The Republic of Ireland internationalist recovered, returned to the field and promptly gave away a free-kick that led to the opening goal with a barge on McMillan on the edge of the centre circle.
Serrano floated a long ball over the heads of the dithering Celtic defence and Ciaron Brown ghosted in behind them and nodded beyond Barkas and into the bottom right corner of the net.
It was, given their track record on this particular patch of artificial turf, an ominous start for Celtic. But they responded well against their understrength rivals and were in front at half-time.
Elyounoussi levelled in the 28th minute when he met a Griffiths corner with
a first-time volley. His fine strike, which rattled in off the underside of the crossbar, was his 14th of the 2020/21 campaign.
Bitton added a second 10 minutes later after Livingston had failed to clear another corner. The ball broke to Callum McGregor who looked set to try his luck from range only to play a disguised pass to
his team. The defender rifled into the top corner.
The Israeli internationalist had been marginally offside when his captain supplied him. However, there were no protests to referee Willie Collum or his assistant
Graeme Stewart and the goal stood.
Celtic should have forged further ahead in added on time at the end of the first-half. Kristoffer Ajer, who revelled in the right back role he was once again handed by Lennon, was sent through by Turnbull. McCrorie, though, did well to get off his line quickly and block the attempt.
The Rangers loanee denied Elyounoussi twice after the second-half got underway and his blocks enabled Livingston to restore parity on the hour mark.
Brown played a one-two with substitute Jaze Kabia wide on the left and then squared into the Celtic six yard box. Nobody cleared it and EmmanuelThomas had the simplest of tasks to turn it in.
Lennon threw on Klimala for Griffiths, Brown for
Soro, Frimpong for Ajer and Johnston for Turnbull in an attempt to lift his charges. But Brown received a straight red card from the match official just five minutes after taking to the field for a foul on Kabia to end any hope Celtic had of snatching an undeserved winner.