Neil Lennon has been defended by yet another of his Celtic big-hitters as Mohamed Elyounoussi has hit out at the criticism towards the manager.
Lennon has been under massive pressure across the latter stages of October and in early November due to a loss of form both domestically and in Europe. It’s led to question marks from some over whether the manager has the backing of the dressing room (Daily Record).
But in between some of the Parkhead horror shows, Celtic have produced some fine football in stages too. They looked great going forward at Pittodrie whilst they easily dismantled Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final. Another routine 4-1 win at Fir Park yesterday was another sign that Celtic’s main focus is on finding their consistency.
And Elyounoussi was keen to put to bed any rumours about dressing room unrest. Instead, he launched a fierce defence of his boss.
As quoted by the Daily Record, Moi said: “I enjoy playing for this manager. I don’t understand the criticism that has been there. He is a great manager. I love to play under him.
“We are united. Everyone’s standing behind him and the staff and this is the level we have to be at. The most important thing is to be consistent.
“The good thing about football is there is always the next game. We didn’t have a lot of days to recover after Thursday and to think about what happened. There’s always the focus on the next game. We are in great shape and unfortunately there’s a break now.”
Elyounoussi not the only one to back Lennon recently
Since the criticism of Lennon started to rear its head after the Rangers defeat on October 17th, it’s fair to say that plenty of Celtic stars have been out backing their boss ever since.
For example, club captain Scott Brown urged the players to fight for their manager before the Motherwell victory (The Scotsman). Okay, perhaps you’d expect that from the captain, but Swiss forward Albian Ajeti was another to have praised Lennon – stating that he gave him his confidence back (The National).
Combine those appraisals with Elyounoussi’s words, and you have some key players there who are out backing the manager. Yes, you can say that they can’t exactly say anything else, but the truth is they’re going over and above to defend him.
If Elyounoussi wasn’t a fan of Lennon, for example, why would he have come back to the club in the first place? He had the perfect opportunity to either stay with Southampton or find a loan switch elsewhere. Don’t tell me nobody would’ve taken a risk on a player with his talent.
There are clear issues at Celtic – that much can’t be denied. But we can’t just assume that it’s some sort of dressing room unrest that’s holding everyone back. That’s far too easy to claim without any real base to the argument.
Of course, we’ll find out further as the season goes on whether Celtic’s issues are repairable. But, for now, there’s nothing to suggest that there are major problems behind closed doors regarding civil unrest.
In other news, a former Celtic winger has secured a major achievement less than a year after leaving Parkhead.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
