Michael Stewart has praised Neil Lennon for not publicly criticising Jozo Simunovic in the wake of Celtic’s shock exit from the Europa League. The central defender was at fault for Copenhagen’s opener and looked uneasy against N’Doye all night. However, Lennon took responsibility and refused to ‘throw anyone under a bus.’
Stewart, in his Scottish Sun column, says that the manager got the decision spot on as Celtic need all their players to be firing in the run in to the end of the season.
“Jozo Simunovic had a Europa League nightmare the other night.
But Neil Lennon was still right not to hang him or anyone else out to dry after the defeat to FC Copenhagen.”
The ex-Hearts captain says that Lennon decided not to blast his Celtic players as he knows how important winning the treble is and to do that, he needs everyone to be up for the challenge.
“The Celtic boss is going to need all of his players if his side are to win the Treble.
“His (Simunovic’s) error for the Danes’ first goal was catastrophic, but in terms of Celtic’s season, the result was a disappointment as opposed to a disaster.”
“On Sunday they have another huge clash in Perth, so Lennon was smart to play it the way he did in the aftermath of Thursday’s game.”
In what could be a potential dig at the Rangers management team, Stewart suggested that it is too easy to come out and lambast individuals but good man-management comes when the boss takes the blame.
“Everybody could see who was to blame. You don’t need the manager to come out and say it.
“It would have been easy for him to come out and point the finger and he must have been tempted, but it was good and sensible man-management by him not to do so.
“This isn’t a loss that will ruin Celtic’s season. They have so much still to play for. Their chances of landing yet another Treble still look good.”
Celtic qualified from a group as winners that has a top Serie A and Ligue 1 side but fell short against arguably weaker opposition. Copenhagen were dogged and tough to break down but Celtic had the chances across the two ties to score and ease their progression.
Now, Celtic turn their attentions to Sunday’s match versus St Johnstone in Perth.
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