There’s no escaping that last night’s Celtic result was a shock, upsetting and ultimately far from good enough.
After years of horror draws in the knockout stages of European competition against the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, Inter and Valencia, this time it felt like the stars were aligned to make progression.
The Copenhagen tie will always be thought of as winnable and, as a result, a huge opportunity missed.
The match was decided by individual errors that Celtic simply cannot make at this level and the players have to take responsibility for that.
Encouragingly though Lennon has refused to hang individuals out to dry, deftly navigating the media barrage that came his way post-match last night.
The message was clear – the team shoulder collective blame.
As quoted by The Daily Mail, he said: “I’m not going to throw anyone under a bus, we win as a team and lose as a team. I have a really talented bunch of players but we let ourselves down at key moments in the game.”
Then quizzed about Jozo Simunovic in particular, whose defensive howler led to Copenhagen’s first goal, Lennon responded: “I have a duty of care to him, he has come back from a long term injury, Yes, he made a mistake but we recovered and he didn’t make a mistake for the second goal.
“If I need to pick him up, I will. That’s my job. He has been magnificent for me since I came in the door. He’s made a mistake, he’s held his hands up and we move on.”
Fans have every reason to be frustrated with Simunovic’s performance. However, he’s not going to disappear before the end of the season, so there’s no use in Lennon slating him in the media.
If Lennon had reacted emotionally to the defeat last night and publicly criticised his players, even if deserved, it could have ruined morale in the dressing room going forward.
The manager is experienced enough to recognise we still have massive ambitions ahead this season and now is no time for recriminations.
You only need to look across the city to see what a manager’s media comments can do to team morale.
They may have progressed in the Europa League but Rangers’ league form has completely deteriorated after Steven Gerrard’s post-Tynecastle rant (Daily Record).
Hopefully the manager’s mature response last night gets the best out of the players and we see a strong reaction in performance against St Johnstone on Sunday.
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