Callum McGregor has concerningly claimed that Celtic stars aren’t taking in Neil Lennon’s ideas as our season continues to plummet.
Celtic’s miserable 2021 continued yesterday with another new low. St Mirren came to Parkhead and ended their over 30-year wait for a victory in the East End of Glasgow.
However, it wasn’t a performance full of chances that saw a Celtic side just struggle with their killer touch. This was a passive display in which Saints goalkeeper Jak Alnwick barely had a save to make. Not once did the Hoops look as though they were going to turn the game around and take three points.
McGregor was unsurprisingly thrown in front of the media as one of Celtic’s hardest triers yesterday. And even he let slip that Lennon’s ideas just aren’t being implemented this season.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, McGregor said: “There’s no doubt we have to learn from this season, try to put it right as best we can, and learn from these downs in football. I think we all have to take a collective responsibility.
“The players have said that, when we cross the line the manager can’t play for us, so we have to symbolise what he’s all about on the pitch. The gaffer tries to get his ideas across and the players are paid to implement that and for one reason or another we haven’t this season.
“Everyone has to take that collective responsibility and the players haven’t performed as well as we can.”
Callum McGregor gives it a good go, but this reflects well on nobody at Celtic
Fair play to Callum here, he’s trying to shift some of the criticism from the manager to the players. He’s right to a point as well. There’s not a lot the manager can do when players cross the white line….except from make tactical decisions of course.
When I watched Celtic yesterday, I had no idea what the game-plan was. Yes, I was one of the ones who tried to convince myself that the new diamond system was going to save us. Give me a break though, it was the only thing holding our season together. We had nothing else to hope for.
But what exactly was it Lennon tried to get his players to implement? When we got the ball to the wide areas we got some joy when stretching the Saints back-line. It’s how Odsonne Edouard’s goal came about with McGregor making a positive run on the left side.
We then decided to consistently try to play the ball to Edouard or Leigh Griffiths’ feet. Only for them to be drowned out by the number of bodies around them. The quick combination play simply wasn’t happening.
Added to that, St Mirren’s intention to press high up the pitch seemed to spook us as well. Our back-line and midfield couldn’t cope with a bit of pressure from a mid-table Premiership side. It looked as if it was something we hadn’t prepared for and it took us off guard. We didn’t get used to it either.
When a player comes out and says the team isn’t carrying out the manager’s ideas – that’s grim. The axe must fall on someone, and unfortunately, it can only do so on Lennon.
In other news, Lennon made a worrying remark regarding the summer after Celtic’s shocking defeat yesterday.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
