Pundit Kevin Graham has recently talked about Celtic manager Neil Lennon.
Graham was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Parkhead-based club. One topic of discussion was Lennon after Celtic’s recent 2-0 win over Aberdeen in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. Graham believes that last week, Lennon looked like he had ‘a bonfire in his eyes’.
The Hoops progressed to the final of the Scottish Cup after beating the Dons. Ryan Christie scored in the 18th minute, while Mohamed Elyounoussi scored in the 23rd minute as well. This was Celtic’s first win in the last five games in all competitions.
Do you think Neil Lennon has turned things around at Celtic?
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Graham believes that Lennon’s recent interviews have been ‘great’ and the Celtic manager operates better when he feels that he has been ‘wronged’.
He said: “I was extremely pleased when Lennon came out on the Tuesday in that press conference. He looked like he had a bonfire in his eyes. It looked like somebody had set him alight again. I’m not taking any credit for that, but when you saw the way that he spoke at that press conference, you were really, really hoping it was going to channel through to the team.
“We all say Neil Lennon works better when he’s got that siege mentality, when he’s the underdog, when he thinks he’s been wronged or his team has been slighted – that’s when he works better. The whole of this week, his interviews have been great.”
TIF Thoughts on Kevin Graham’s comments regarding Neil Lennon…
Last week, Lennon had described the criticism of his team as ‘shocking’. He had said that he saw newspapers running polls about whether he should get sacked or not, but he admitted to the fact that he had never seen anything like that before at Parkhead (as per BBC Sport).
After the win over Aberdeen though, Lennon’s words were much more positive and he said that the Celtic players are ‘achieving greatness’. He also said that he ‘never questioned’ his own players. This might suggest that the situation perhaps seems more positive now and because of the win over Aberdeen, Lennon might be happier than he was a week ago.