We’re in a fight to stay in our jobs, says Mjallby

CELTIC assistant manager Johan Mjallby believes he and Neil Lennon could be seeking employment elsewhere next week if they fail to defeat Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday.

In a week which has seen Celtic manager Lennon publicly question the attitude of his players to the slump in form which has seen them slip 12 points behind leaders Rangers in the SPL title race, Mjallby was unequivocal in his own assessment of the situation at the club.

The big Swede was speaking at Hampden yesterday where the semi-final draw of the League Cup handed Celtic a January showdown with Falkirk. But Mjallby fears the current management team will not be in place for that tie if they fall any further behind in the championship.

Celtic entertain Rennes tomorrow night in their latest Europa League group game but Mjallby accepts that Sunday’s trip to Motherwell, presently three points ahead of Lennon’s men in the SPL, is the more crucial assignment.

“As a coaching staff it’s definitely the most critical week of our careers at Celtic,” said Mjallby. “Of course we are battling to save our jobs. We can’t lose anymore ground to Rangers.

“I was here six years as a player and I know how it is up here. Nothing surprises me and it’s brilliant in a way because these are testing times. Sure, I would be more happy if the team was playing better and we were getting results.

“But this is a good opportunity for us to prove our worth. We have to be united and try and be shrewd in who we pick in the team. We have to see who can be trusted but we have enough players who can turn it around.”

Mjallby concedes there is currently a crisis of confidence at Celtic which is not confined simply to the playing staff who have already dropped 13 league points this season. “It’s definitely not going for us at the moment,” he added. “Not only the players, but all the people in management are low in confidence right now. We have to get back to winning ways and until you do you are always low on confidence. We have a very important game against Rennes on Thursday and it’s a big opportunity for us to gain some confidence.

“If I was a player I would be very happy to have Neil Lennon as a manager and I would be fighting for him, that’s for sure. We have a few injuries but we can’t use that as an excuse. We have to get back to winning ways because we can’t lose anymore ground. Neil has spoken to a lot of the players over the past couple of days. We aren’t doing things much differently to last season when we were playing good, attacking football. It’s a team and some players are more important than others. But it’s more important that we all work harder as a team. We can’t keep blaming the defence because we haven’t been good enough in the final third. We have a few young players and perhaps they are not used to the burden of having to win every game. But at Celtic you have to accept that. A draw here is a bad result. That is something we have to drum into them even more.”

Celtic defender Thomas Rogne, whose return to action has at least given the team greater solidity in their past couple of matches, insists the determination of the players to succeed under Lennon should not be doubted. “After the Hibs game on Saturday, it’s not strange to hear those questions,” said Rogne. “But I still think every player is giving his all and doing their best to win the games.

“Sometimes you have a bad day and that is what happened on Saturday. I don’t think you can question the will and the heart of the players. People are looking for reasons and it is hard for us to find out exactly what went wrong as well. The players want to win more games but it has nothing to do with unhappiness in the camp. It is hard to say what exactly is wrong, but we need to stand together as a group. The manager has spoken to us and told us what we need to improve. We have let the manager down too many times now and haven’t done him justice. We are desperate to turn it around for him, for the fans, for the club and for everyone.

“The manager’s criticism has definitely not caused a rift. The players know themselves that if they don’t have a good game, then they need to hear it. The manager is our leader and we need to hear it from him if we are not playing well.”