Wary Lennon sees Utrecht as big test of Celtic's mentality

From his first day in the manager's chair at Celtic Park, Neil Lennon's philosophy of the game has been simple and unchanging. "Football," he says, "is 20 per cent ability and 80 per cent mentality."

• Daniel Majstorovic leads the way as Celtic fly to Utrecht for tonight's Europa League return Picture: SNS

He mentioned these percentages again yesterday when he touched down in Amsterdam and made the short onward journey to Utrecht, the venue for tonight's Europa League tie, the victor gaining not so much bundles of cash, but all the kudos that comes with having European competition for a prolonged spell. Lennon dismissed talk that James McFadden was on his radar as a loan signing, but he accepts that staying alive in this tournament would do no harm to his chances of luring a decent name to the club before the transfer window shuts.

Celtic might have carried with them a 2-0 lead on the plane from Glasgow but we saw enough from the Dutch side last week at Parkhead to know that there is a reaction coming. And, Lord knows, we have seen enough from Celtic over the years to realise that capitulation on foreign soil is always a possibility.

Hence, the emphasis on mentality. Lennon knows that his players have talent.

It's a painfully early stage in their development as a team, but their ability is palpable. But what of their nerve? How will they cope when the heat is on them, as it surely will be at various points this evening.

Utrecht are no Ajax, but they're sitting third in the Dutch league with two wins from three games at present and they have goals in their locker.

They're entirely capable of turning over the deficit tonight and you sense that Lennon knows it.

"Aye, I think the game is 80 per cent mental. I was mental, anyway," he said. "Still am. I'll learn a lot about them in this game. It'll be a good test.

"I don't think we're the type to get too carried away with what happened on Sunday (the sweeping victory over St Mirren in the SPL), but there's a feelgood factor. We don't want the bubble to burst just yet. We're building a squad to compete in four competitions, three domestic and one European. End of. I'm looking for a big performance from them."

Lennon was deadpan all the way from Glasgow, occassionally burying his head in a book - one of Stieg Larsson's trilogy - before raising it again and staring into the distance. If he was trying to set a tone of steadfast determination then his body language was unmistakable. No jokes, not many smiles. Just a straight face and some direct talking.

Did he feel as if this game was his biggest yet at Celtic manager? Did he think that a loss would put him back to square one in terms of reputation? "With every negative result, that one (his lack of experience) is going to be thrown at me.

It doesn't nag me. I have enough experience to be able to do the job. The league record speaks for itself at the minute. Ten games (and ten wins). I know it's not much, but people are saying, 'Oh, we'll see what he's like at Christmas-time'. I've just got to concentrate on what I'm doing right now. Just build a team and be strong domestically and get a run in Europe. So it's a big, big game, not just for the club, but for myself."

Did he see in his team the same mad determination that he had as a player? "I hope so," he replied, "but it's very, very early to say that. I can see changes in body language and in the approach to games. You're always only one game away from a crisis here, you know. We're not being complacent. We want to plan as best we can for Utrecht and hopefully see it through. You have to be very solid, not give them any sort of encouragement because an early goal (for Utrecht) could shift the balance of the tie."

An early goal and we could be in for one of those long and hair-raising nights that Celtic seem to specialise in when they're on the road. For Lennon, the hope is that a new team brings new strength where before there was always weakness.

?Celtic can be confident going into tonight's decider against Utrecht - their last defeat on Dutch soil came almost 40 years ago.They have lost only one competitive game in the Netherlands - against Johan Cruyff's all-conquering Ajax back in 1971.

Other games in the Netherlands were a 3-1 away win against Ajax in the 2001-2 Champions League qualifier, a 2-1 win over Ajax in the 1981-82 European Cup and a 6-0 win against Go Ahead Deventer in the 1965-66 Cup-Winners' Cup.