Livingston 2-0 Celtic is exactly the kind of result that you could see angering Neil Lennon, but the Hoops boss isn’t going overboard.
It was a rough afternoon in West Lothian. Celtic were second-best throughout the 90 minutes, and didn’t do anywhere near enough to warrant anything from the contest.
However, Lennon largely selected the same XI that beat Cluj 2-0 on Thursday night. Only Moritz Bauer for Hatem Abd Elhamed was chosen by Lenny as a change. In the end, it was a laboured performance, with Celtic punished for their mistakes.
But Lennon isn’t interested in calling anyone out. Instead, he told the BBC (14:23) that his side were simply punished for their mistakes.
“I’ve no complaints with the red card, it’s totally unlike Ryan Christie. At half-time I thought we were okay. We gave away a bad goal, too passive, lost the ball in a bad area, but we didn’t press Robbie Crawford before he played the through ball and there’s no excuse for that.
“At 1-0 we were forcing the issue and looking okay, and the second goal is really poor. I don’t think that’s down to being down to 10 men, we should deal with that, it’s a straight long ball over the top.
“We have to, at times, roll our sleeves up and do the nuts and bolts of the game more. I’m not going to whip them for that performance but I didn’t think we were anywhere near as ruthless as we could have been. It’s our first defeat. We have to accept it, look where we went wrong, can’t be too emotional about it.”
Lennon trying to keep morale positive heading into the break
It’s a bit of a surprise to see Lenny so reserved post-match here. The truth is, regardless of the pitch, that we produced a shocking performance at Livingston this afternoon. There was no excuse for not posing any threat after going down to 10 men.
However, in saying that, it’s clear to see what Lennon is trying to do. Frustration was evident all throughout the team this afternoon. There was a clear anger from certain players such as Christopher Jullien and Odsonne Edouard. Calling them out so soon after the game would’ve potentially been disastrous for confidence.
We have to, at the end of the day, remember that this is one defeat. The reason this is such a blow is because it comes in the immediate domestic game after our 1-1 draw at Easter Road. But it’s not the end of the world, there will be plenty of points dropped by both Celtic and Rangers this season.
The more concerning aspect today was the standard of the performance. There wasn’t enough character when down to 10 men to win that game this afternoon. We started off with a couple of half-chances in the first 45, but we couldn’t keep it up.
Neil can clearly see his players are trying their best to perform for him. However, considering it’s come so close after Cluj, he has to strike that balance in his post-match assessments. One defeat can’t be a disaster, and one win can’t be our utopia. So, even though his reaction today was surprising, he’s probably right to hold back for now.
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