Sorry Celtic boss Neil Lennon admits there are no excuses - 'heavy criticism' expected
Just as the fire has gone out in his team in betraying a “softness” that condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at Ross County as a result of a Jordan White header from a 71st-minute set-piece, so the Celtic manager no longer seeks to defend the inadequacies that has allowed Rangers a procession to a first title in a decade, and see Steven Gerrard’s men with a mammoth 18-point advantage going into the final eight games.
Lennon was asked on Sky Sports what he would offer to supporters following the fourth Premiership loss in a season wherein they have taken full points from only 19 of their 30 games.
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Hide Ad“I’m sorry. We let them down again,” he said. “It’s not for the want of trying to win and we’re bitterly disappointed. As a manager, what can I say? We dominated and missed some unbelievable chances and then we can’t defend a set play for some reason. It’s a headscratcher, for sure. We were totally dominant.
“We won 5-0 up here [earlier in the season] and played nowhere near as we did here and we got nothing for it. It’s a difficult one to stomach. They are easy chances. One for Odsonne [Edouard], another for Ryan [Christie] , it’s not about criticising individuals, it’s the team, it’s the coaching staff. It’s a source of real frustration for everyone.
“Our decision-making and final ball at times in the game, we worked the ball into really good areas and let ourselves down. The urgency to get on the end of crosses, that’s been lacking a lot this season. We didn’t play badly and I didn’t think we deserved to lose, but we have. We’re not learning from defending set plays. Ross County maybe had the ball in our box once or twice the whole second half and we have conceded a free header to the biggest guy in their team. We should be dealing with it.
“It’s been a bugbear and certainly a weakness of ours all season. I can’t change it now. Heading the ball is part of the game and defending set plays is part of the game and we haven’t done that anywhere near well enough this season. You can tell them ad nauseum on the training ground and you can set them up ad nauseum, but you have got to go and want to head a ball. I’m bitterly disappointed because they are good enough to learn. They maybe don’t want to get hurt or throw their body in the way of things. It’s not good enough.
“That encapsulated the season tonight. We shouldn’t be losing to the bottom team. We shouldn’t be losing the manner of goal we lost again tonight. It’s happened a few times. We’ve had a run of games [with five wins] and then this happens.
“There are no excuses. It’s not covid, it’s not having certain players. We’ve had a couple of injuries here and there but in the main we should have been more comfortable tonight and at other times. The have been times we’ve been good – but we revert back to playing tippy-tappy football at times. I’m sure we’ll get heavily criticised. Whether it’s right or wrong after this performance, it doesn’t matter. We just need to deal with it.”