It is only early days in his second spell as Celtic manager. But Hoops boss Neil Lennon seems to be making the critics eat their words.
Opinion was divided amongst the Celtic support when Lennon was given the manager’s job on a permanent basis in the summer.
The reason for that was likely the string of indifferent performances when Lennon was caretaker manager last season.
Celtic playing with freedom
However, in the few games that he has been in charge of this season, Celtic are playing with a freedom they lacked last season.
Case in point is the 5-0 Champions League qualifying win over Nomme Kalju. Lennon decided to play with two strikers in the game, Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard.
The move paid off as the Hoops all but clinched their place in the next round of the qualifiers. The Hoops lacked that freedom last season.
Lennon seemed as concerned about not losing games as he was about winning games. That lead to some poor performances.
Return to squad of key players has helped
That does not seem to be the case so far this season. Of course, availability of players has helped on that front.
Last season Leigh Griffiths and Ryan Christie missed large parts of Lennon’s time as boss. This season both players already look like being key parts of Lennon’s side.
The challenges will only get tougher for the Hoops boss in the weeks to come. But so far, Neil Lennon is doing a great job in proving the doubters wrong.
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