Celtic manager Neil Lennon 'can't defend players' after abject 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague

Neil Lennon has called for a “culture change” within his Celtic squad after effectively conceding their 4-1 thumping by Sparta Prague represented the “low point” of his two spells and six years as manager of the club.

Neil Lennon struggles to look at the horror show served up by his Celtic team in their 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The 49-year-old conceded that the thermonuclear criticism that will ensue for him and his players is warranted following Celtic’s heaviest home defeat with him at the helm.

His scattergun attack on his players for their brittle and brutal efforts against an under-strength Czech team accusing his men of “a lack of application”, “a lack of hunger” and a “raggedness” in a display that he accepted midfielder Callum McGregor was right to call “embarrassing”.

Lennon said he could no longer defend his players after a season in which they have failed to catch fire but are being burned by calamatious defensive efforts that have resulted in them conceding 14 goals in six games.

He as good as accepted the club’s Europa League group qualification hopes were extinguished but he recognises that is secondary to ensuring that Premiership prospects do not disintegrate with Rangers holding a nine point lead before Celtic head to Motherwell on Sunday. A game Lennon accepts his team cannot afford to lose.

“I can’t defend the players. I’ve tried to over the piece. But I can’t tonight,” he said. “‘There has to be a culture change. I have to change it quickly and the players have to change quickly because it’s not acceptable. I need to get them more hungry, more on point, back to basics. We didn’t do basics well enough, didn’t use our bodies, didn’t run. All the things Sparta did. We need to be far more aggressive as individuals. As a manager I have to accept responsibility but players need to look at themselves as individuals.

“We need to get back to showing a bit more humility, working hard on the training ground. I didn’t see that coming after Sunday, [and the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen] a great performance, four good days [after the draw in Lille]. We didn’t do the basics well enough. A set play, they’ve hardly been in our half. A corner isn’t even that well hit. But we should be there for first contact, be more aggressive with defending. We bang the drum about that all the time. [With the number of goals being lost] we need to look at that and make changes.

“Probably the group is gone now. We need to get our respect back. That’s a very poor performance from a Celtic team. I take responsibility but the players have to take some. We go from topping the group against teams of a similar standing last year, now one point out of nine. We need to look at how we’ve reached this point. We’re too easy to run by. It’s lazy. And we need to change that culture.

“It’s something we can turn around very quickly. I’ll be working on that in the next few days. This is a low point tonight, but I’ve been over far worse than this. But, in terms of isolated games, it is one of the poorest. You have to bounce back, have to react. And we have to react not just over one game but over months.”

How the Celtic players rated in the humiliating 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague

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