Neil Lennon's inexperience brutally exposed but much too early to rush to any conclusions

FIRST impressions can often be misleading, notoriously so when it comes to assessing the prospects of success for a Celtic manager on the basis of his first Champions League assignment.

Irrespective of whether Neil Lennon and his embryonic team manage to overturn Wednesday night's 3-0 first leg deficit against Braga at Celtic Park next week, it would be rash indeed to make any snap judgment of them. Equally, however, it is impossible to ignore the elements of Celtic's display in Portugal which will have set alarm bells ringing in the minds of many of their supporters.

In their first competitive fixture of the season, a degree of trepidation and disjointedness was perhaps to be expected from a line-up which included four of Lennon's summer signings. But their failure to properly execute many of the basic disciplines demanded of a team at European level could not be wholly attributed to unfamiliarity with each other. Braga, after all, had three players making their debuts and managed to achieve a reasonable level of cohesion.

While Lennon's reporting of Aiden McGeady's recurring back problem provided much of the post-match intrigue, it was recurring problems at the back which caused Celtic most difficulty during the 90 minutes.

Full-backs Cha Du Ri and Charlie Mulgrew were both guilty of poor distribution and sloppy positional play. The central defensive pairing of Glenn Loovens and Jos Hooiveld, as untroubled as they were for long periods by a circumspect Braga side, were open to a charge of gross negligence for the concession of the home team's second goal from a corner kick with 15 minutes remaining.

Before Nigerian left-back Elderson took advantage of Celtic's leaden-footed defending at that moment to make it 2-0, winning the tie appeared well within the reach of Lennon's men. Brazilian substitute Matheus' swerving long range free-kick in the 87th minute, which totally deceived Celtic goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska, may well have put it beyond them.

While Lennon accepted the culpability of his players in the manner those goals were conceded, he chose to focus his analysis of the contest on the contentious first-half penalty kick which Brazilian winger Alan converted to put Braga ahead. Certainly, there was considerable dubiety over the award which saw Ki Sung Yeung adjudged to have handled Miguel Garcia's cross. But Lennon's verbal post-match dissection of the match officials, on top of his ill-advised, finger-jabbing confrontation of Belgian referee Serge Gumienny and his assistants as they left the field at half-time, could too easily be interpreted as an attempt to deflect attention away from Celtic's own shortcomings.

A five-man midfield, which Lennon tried in vain to re-organise effectively as the evening progressed, struggled to retain possession of the ball. Of the debutants, Efrain Juarez was comfortably the most impressive on view, although the Mexican international did tire badly in the second half before being replaced by youngster James Forrest.

Joe Ledley endured a miserable first outing for Celtic, however, the Welshman unable to exert any influence on proceedings. Captain Scott Brown was only marginally more effective, while the remaining components of the midfield set-up, Shaun Maloney and Ki, were badly off the pace.

Celtic, whose sole attempt on target came from substitute Daryl Murphy in stoppage time, desperately lacked anyone capable of stretching the well-drilled Braga back four. Whether McGeady would have provided the purpose and incisiveness Celtic required is open to conjecture. Lennon said a back problem persuaded the medical staff that the 24-year-old should not be risked in Braga. Speculation that Celtic are determined nothing should scupper the prospective sale of their most highly-valued player, however, has simply increased.

From a financial perspective, selling McGeady and German full-back Andreas Hinkel, who curiously travelled with the squad to Portugal despite not being registered in Celtic's Uefa squad, makes sense. In the short term, however, being unable to utilise two of the club's better players may be damaging as the dream of serious Champions League participation edges towards the realms of fantasy.

Lennon may yet oversee a thrilling comeback at Celtic Park next Wednesday night, a venue to which he has stated a desire to "bring the thunder back." Even this early in his tenure, there are storm clouds gathering which he will be keen to disperse.