Patryk Klimala has opened up on the “bad football” Celtic played under Neil Lennon last year but stopped short of blaming the manager for how the season panned out.
Celtic were going for an historic 10th consecutive title last season. However, it became clear as early as January that the league trophy wasn’t coming back to Parkhead.
The Hoops disappointed supporters spectacularly both on and off the pitch. Dreadful performances and bemusing tactical decisions had supporters furious. The board’s decision not to make a swift change of manager and instead decide to ride out the pain then made them incensed.
And Klimala, who left for New York Red Bulls in the summer, is struggling to put his finger on just what went wrong. But he also believes he speaks for everyone when he says the club played “bad football”.
As quoted by Football Scotland, Klimala said: “When I came in to Celtic I didn’t realise how important 10-in-a-row was. But during the season I knew it was really big. I spoke with the guys and they would tell me how important it was.
“But we played bad football, that’s the reason we didn’t win. Our performance on the field. Everyone, I think, is on the same page as me, we played bad football and that’s why we lost.
“It’s hard to explain why exactly we did so badly. I can’t say, ‘Yes it was because of the coach’ or, ‘Yes it was because of the players’. It wasn’t like that. We tried to do our best on the field and we weren’t good enough.”
Patryk Klimala spot on, but we all know why Celtic played bad football
Klimala isn’t wrong. The football on offer from Celtic last season was utterly dreadful. In fact it was a borderline disgrace just how poor the players were performing.
And that simply comes down to having the wrong man to motivate them. He was far too quick to throw his players under the bus early on in the season. Something that always looked likely to come back and haunt him.
We then had the fact that he produced arguably the most bemusing in-game decisions we’ve had to suffer through over the last decade. Tactically, Lennon just wasn’t at it.
Needless to say, the more poor results a team gets, the lesser it performs as morale drains. Lennon was simply never able to lift them after losing the first Glasgow derby of the season to Rangers.
Klimala clearly doesn’t want to go all in on his former manager. Perhaps because he was the one who signed him and gave him his big break. But you have to point the finger at the manager.
Regardless, 10IAR is in the past now. Celtic have a new goal as they look to win the championship back this season. That’s all the Hoops will be caring about.
In other news, Nir Bitton brushes off Celtic testimonial question
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