Celtic manager Neil Lennon has stated that he’s “sick” of seeing individual errors continuously cost his side in Europe.
The Hoops crashed out of the UEFA Champions League last night at the second qualifying round stage. It’s the first time the club has been KO’d at that round in 15 years as Ferencvaros won 2-1 at Parkhead.
Hatem Elhamed’s error ultimately sent Celtic tumbling down into the Europa League, with individual mistakes still a consistent occurrence in Europe. Last season, a plethora of mistakes allowed Cluj to win at Parkhead, before Jozo Simunovic’s shocking back-pass cost us in our Europa League last-32 tie against Copenhagen.
And it’s clear Lennon has had enough of decent team performances being ruined by individual errors.
Speaking to Celtic TV post-match, the Hoops boss said: “The second goal is an individual error that we should’ve dealt with comfortably.
“It’s just a basic mistake. I’m sick of seeing us making basic defensive mistakes. We did the same against Copenhagen when we were on top. Sometimes you can’t legislate for that.
“He’s in the right position. All he has to do is deal with it and we doesn’t. We got punished for that. In the final third we should’ve been better as well because we had so many opportunities to score.”
How do you stamp out lapses in concentration?
There were plenty of problems last night, and for 75 minutes or so, Hatem Elhamed wasn’t one of them. The big Israeli put in a fine performance up until his mistake for the goal.
And Lennon makes a good point here. You can’t really legislate for basic errors that we shouldn’t be expecting the team to make. The issue is how you stamp that out of players. Whether it be hesitancy, panic, or just sheer poor concentration, there’s no set formula to drill these things out of your squad.
Too many times do we shoot ourselves in the foot in Europe. Even for Ferencvaros’ first goal, somebody should’ve been rushing out to close down the shot. Nobody did of course.
We can better many of these Champions League sides when it comes to technical ability. Yet we’re also European football’s Father Christmas as we can’t stop giving out gifts.
Lennon has to shoulder much of the blame for last night. However, there is a frustrating trend being set now as we continuously make ridiculously basic errors at European level.
This needs to end one way or another. The manager’s job will depend on it.
In other news, Celtic have been linked with a move for a £9million-rated Liverpool striker after last night’s horror show.
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