Celtic great John Hartson believes that the club’s performances could take the shine off any potential success this season.
The Hoops are on course for the treble treble before the summer. They’re nine points clear at the top of the table with just four games remaining, and are into the Scottish Cup final against Hearts next month.
But despite that, performances have been generally poor since Neil Lennon came in the door. Celtic have only scored three goals in a game once since Lennon arrived. Added to that, we’ve failed to score in three of nine games in charge – needing last minute goals in two more of them.
Hartson believes their current stuttering form could take any shine off of this season’s success too. Speaking to the Evening Times, the former Hoops and Arsenal striker had this to say:
“Yes, Neil’s priority was to get Celtic to the Scottish Cup final and to get us over the line in terms of an eighth league title in a row. He has achieved the first of those tasks in fine style, but the laboured fashion by which Celtic are going about clinching the league championship hasn’t been great to watch.
“There have now been three goalless draws in Celtic’s last six games, and even some of the wins haven’t been too easy on the eye.
“The prevailing thought has been that if Neil clinches yet another treble, which would be a magnificent achievement by the way, then the job would be his. And I think that is right. But I just worry the perception of this Celtic team under his guidance is turning a little bit negative.”
It’s not just about winning the league title now
When Celtic beat Rangers to go 13 points clear at the top of the Premiership, an opportunity had opened up. It was a real chance for the Hoops to bury Rangers in a points deficit that would’ve made a real statement on their apparent progress this season.
Just winning the league isn’t good enough. Winning it by seven to nine points would hardly be impressive either given the fact we’re still two Premierships from 10-in-a-row. What these results do is give our rivals hope ahead of next season.
This is also still Lennon in audition. It didn’t finish after he beat Rangers last month. So far, the report card will read well as they close in on the title and likely the Scottish Cup. But the performances of the team have RARELY been eye-pleasing.
The idea that this happened under Brendan Rodgers is right. But it didn’t happen under Rodgers every single week, and that’s exactly what’s going on with Lennon. Sure, the Scottish Cup clash against Aberdeen nearly two weeks ago was a success, but a lot of that was to do with the Dons’ incredible lack of discipline. We played nine men for the majority of the second-half.
Our performance levels are starting to catch up with us. No longer is the last-minute goal train stopping for us to hitch a lift from.
Fortunately, Lennon still has four massive Premiership matches ahead of him. Win them all, and things will look much brighter for him. Stutter along the way? More questions will only be raised.
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