Celtic players believe in Neil Lennon despite mounting pressure from support

Celtic forward Mohamed Elyounoussi says he and the rest of the players are fully behind embattled manager Neil Lennon ahead of Sunday’s must-win Betfred Cup tie against Ross County.

Mohamed Elyounoussi believes there is unity at Celtic.

Lennon is under strong pressure from a disgruntled fanbase due to a poor run of form, trailing Premiership leaders Rangers by 11 points and crashing out of the Europa League earlier in the week.

While Celtic do have two games in hand over their Glasgow rivals as they bid to win their tenth title in a row, the Northern Irish coach has no margin for error now. Despite backing from the board, a defeat at home to County in the last 16 of the competition or another slip up in the league would prove fatal.

However, Elyounoussi – who is on a season-long loan from Southampton – believes that everyone in the Celtic dressing-room is on the same page and that there is no “negativity”.

"If you don’t believe in yourself you should not be in sport,” said the Norwegian. “We believe 100 per cent in each other and the gaffer.

“We are sticking up for each other. There is no negativity going around here. Sometimes if you don’t get the result people start to see things and criticise but that is part of the game.

“You need a strong mentality but we are moving forwards. Those games have gone we need to analyse what has gone wrong and try to put it right.

“It’s a long season. There are so many games to play, so many points to play so I am not concerned at all.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.