Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has given his verdict on Celtic’s fantastic win at Ibrox and concluded that Mick Beale’s side simply wasn’t good enough to really compete against the under-strength Celtic side that Brendan Rodgers was forced to field.
The Rangers fans were clearly left bitterly disappointed in their own side’s performance, even booing their players off of the park, although Mick Beale avoided that as he made a speedy exit down the Ibrox tunnel as soon as the final whistle was blown.
Playing at Ibrox with the whole stadium backing them due to the ongoing away tickets row , and failing to get a result against an under strength Celtic has left Lennon concluding that theRangers fans will start to turn on Beale if he doesn’t get his act together quickly.
Lennon stated that Beale’s record against Celtic has put a ‘black spot’ on his record at theRangers, and may eventually lead to his dismissal as head coach unless he can find a way to defeat Celtic in a meaningful match.
Lennon also commented on the tactics deployed by Brendan Rodgers and the all-around Celtic performance, saying that the Hoops kept the stadium quiet by allowing Rangers nothing. He further stated that the Hoops were in total control for the majority of the first half, despite having no fans present at the stadium. As reported by the Daily Record, Lennon said…
“The tactical plan from Brendan and the team was really good because they quietened the crowd.
“They restricted (the)Rangers to next to nothing and controlled possession for long periods of the game. To be honest, Kyogo could have come off at half-time with a hat-trick. Not just his goal but the one where McGregor slipped in Abada and Kyogo’s tried to Cruyff it instead of making the contact, and Goldson cleared one off the line. At that point, Celtic were in total control,” Lennon said.
“(the)Rangers had no idea, for me anyway, in the throws of the game, the passing was poor, possession was poor. They got the press wrong and tried to play football against them and they are not good enough.
“When you are coaching one of the big clubs in Glasgow, there’s an expectation you are going to beat Hibs, there’s an expectation you are going to beat Hearts, and Aberdeen, fans sort of think ‘yeah we’ll win that one’ but you need to win it with a certain style.
“When you play (the)Rangers, just win it. Doesn’t matter how you win it. If you win it like yesterday (Sunday) where it can be a bit of a slogfest, by Thursday the performance is forgotten about and the psychological edge is with Celtic now.
“Michael’s had six, and he’s not won any of them. That is a big sort of black mark against him and he has to start winning these games. Otherwise fans aren’t going to believe in him. They have got to see progression and a style of play with the team, and I don’t think they are seeing that at the minute.”
It seems that Micheal Beale is somewhat out of his depth in his position at Rangers and Lennon’s ‘black spot’ comment may ring very true in the eyes of many Rangers fans. Anyway, Lennon’s comments on the match are very balanced and fair. Brendan successfully struck back against the building criticism and drew an impressive from the Hoops.
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