Lennon wants title race put to bed before Celtic trip to Ibrox
● Wrapping up league early will give his players more time to prepare for cup final
Neil Lennon has urged Celtic to “put the title race to bed” before the final Old Firm showdown of the season to allow themselves as much time as possible to focus on the chance to wrap up a triple treble in the Scottish Cup final.
The champions blew the chance to set up a title-clinching opportunity in front of their own fans against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park this Saturday when they dropped two more points away to Hibs on Sunday.
It was a second successive goalless draw in the Premiership for Celtic, prompting interim manager Lennon to question the attitude of some of the players under his command.
They retain a healthy ninepoint lead over Rangers at the top of the table, with just four games of the campaign remaining, but Lennon is keen to see the club’s eighth consecutive league triumph wrapped up as soon as possible.
It could yet happen this weekend if Celtic beat Kilmarnock, then Rangers slip up at home to Aberdeen on Sunday. But if Steven Gerrard’s men can continue their current winning run, Celtic’s first guaranteed opportunity to retain their crown will come against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on 4 May.
If they fail to cross the finishing line that weekend, then the title race would be extended further to encompass the final Old Firm clash of the campaign at Ibrox on 12 May.
“I know we have missed the chance to win it at home next Saturday but I can’t think about that now,” said Lennon.
“Everyone says ‘Oh, we could have won it at Easter Road if results had gone our way’ or ‘we could have won it at home’ or whatever. I get all that to a certain extent but you still have to stay in the present moment. I’ve prepared for each game with the mindset of taking one game at a time, because it’s just too important not to.
“But we just need to win it and stop thinking about when we are going to win it. It’s now about the next game against Kilmarnock – win that and see where it takes us. If we have to go to Aberdeen [with the title race still on], then let’s make sure we do the job properly, win the title and put it to bed. Then we can look forward to the cup final against Hearts at Hampden at the end of May.”
It surely remains a question of when, not if. Despite dropping four points in their last two Premiership matches, it would still take a collapse of Devon Loch proportions for Celtic to relinquish their title over the next four weeks.
But Neil Lennon’s hopes of overseeing a stylish canter to the club’s eighth successive league crown are in danger of being held up by the kind of plodding displays which prompted him to vent his frustration at some of the players involved in Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Hibs at Easter Road.
For Celtic as a club, it ultimately won’t matter too much how they clinch the title, just as long as they do and secure a pathway towards potential Champions League riches next season.
For interim manager Lennon, however, the manner in which Celtic complete the job started by Brendan Rodgers does carry greater significance if he is to remain in charge beyond the summer.
It has, by Lennon’s own admission, been a delicate balancing act since he answered Celtic’s call in February following Rodgers’ hasty departure to Leicester City. For the former club captain, well versed in collecting silverware during his first fouryear stint as manager of the club from 2010 to 2014, it was very much a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Lennon remains unbeaten after nine games back in the Celtic technical area, seven of them in the league and two Scottish Cup victories which have booked a Hampden date against Hearts on 25 May when a triple treble of domestic trophies could be achieved. But while the performances in those cup ties against Hibs and Aberdeen carried the kind of swagger and dominance Celtic supporters have come to expect from their team, displays in the league have been less convincing since Lennon returned. There have now been three goalless draws on his watch, while two of the four victories were earned by stoppage-time winners.
It’s understandable that Lennon has now expressed his intention to try to fully impose his own personality on the team in the remaining weeks of the season.
“Maybe the players saw a side of me on Sunday that they’ve not seen before,” he reflected.
“But I have been at the club, involved at this club, for a long, long time. I’m following in great footsteps and maybe it’s not Brendan’s way, the way I approach games. Listen, I have this reputation as being a hairdryer type manager. Not at all. But there are times when the players need to be told and I think Sunday was one of those days.”
Having gone 13 points clear of Rangers with victory in the Old Firm match at Parkhead on 31 March, there is a sense that the Celtic players have psychologically already confirmed themselves as champions again.
Lennon agrees that may explain the difference in mindset between their commanding performance in the 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen and the league stalemate at Hibs in which their lead at the top of the table was cut to nine points.
“It looks that way,” said Lennon. “I don’t know if it’s the environment or the circumstances. But this is their title, this is their time, they have to make the most of it. This is a great club – they can’t just put in inconsistent performances.
“They have done brilliantly and on Sunday of all days, after what was a spectacular win at Hampden last week, it should have been the start of them playing like that consistently. But, again, for the first 20 minutes I thought I was looking at a different team. Even in the second half at times, we were slow with the build-up or the switches of play but the game did eventually start to open up and we knew that because we felt Hibs would tire and then the gaps started to appear.
“At times the decision-making with the final ball or the pass or the cross or the finish was just lacking. We park that now. But we have to work onapproachingtheremaininggames a lot better. The fact it was another 0-0 draw in the league would be a worry if we weren’t creating chances. But against Hibs we had great chances to win the game. The nil-nils come from not starting in the right manner and again we didn’t start in the right manner against Hibs. I don’t need to tell the players, they need to look at it and analyse it themselves.
“I don’t think it’s a case of them thinking ‘we just need to turn up to win the game’ but certainly our play in the final third on Sunday wasn’t at the acceptable level.”
Olivier Ntcham was a notable culprit in that regard for Celtic, the Frenchmidfielderenduringawretched afternoon before being replaced by Tom Rogic midway through the second half.
“Olivier just had one of those days and you don’t expect that from a player of his quality,” observed Lennon. “He looked tremendous in training, that’s why we went with him. We feel Tom’s not at full fitness yet.”
Lennon is also seeking an improvement in the standard of Celtic’s execution of set-pieces after being left frustrated by their failure to make the most of a number of promising dead-ball situations on Sunday.
“Some of the deliveries were good and some were very, very poor,” he added. “There’s an inconsistency there. We work on them, we practise them, but you need to get them right in the moment and give the lads a chance to go and actually attack the ball.
“We nearly got one at the end from a set play; Ofir Marciano made a great save from Jozo Simunovic’s header. That pleased me but we need more of that, consistently.”