Neil Lennon has stated Celtic didn’t deserve to lose 4-1 to Sparta Prague tonight, as reported by The Guardian’s Ewan Murray.
The Bhoys boss said after the horror defeat: “I didn’t think we deserved to lose 4-1…. after half time for 35 minutes we were superb. Things aren’t going for us at the minute. It was far better than the performance two weeks ago.”
Murray would also go on to report further comments that, in my opinion, reflect poorly on the Bhoys boss.
It appears that the reality of the situation has not yet sunk in for our manager.
To me, these are embarrassing comments, simply not rooted in what we watched on the park tonight.
Yes, there was a decent spell after half-time, but we failed to make any pressure count, with Odsonne Edouard missing a golden chance.
Sparta fully deserved to go into the break 2-1 ahead and our amateur defending in the second half was punished with relative ease, resulting in a terrible, terrible defeat.
For all the talk of disrespect towards Neil Lennon this week, to me these post-match comments are a pretty disrespectful glossing over of what tonight’s result means for fans.
Supporters have paid a fortune into the club this season, with not even the thrill of being able to watch the team in person available.
To see the manager almost defend a display and a result like that is a slap in the face.
As for the psychological problems? If that’s the case, they have been there from day one this season and nothing Lennon has tried is working.
Again it feels like he is abdicating any responsibility for his role in tonight’s defeat, putting all the blame on his players.
That may convince some fans, and I am not absolving tonight’s performers, but it doesn’t explain our downward trend all season.
Does it matter what the root of the problem is? Perhaps the players are suffering psychologically because they’ve lost faith in the current project?
What on earth will Sunday bring?
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