Neil Lennon has claimed that a culture change is needed at Celtic when speaking to BT Sport after the Bhoys’ 4-1 loss to Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
The Hoops manager was quite clearly embarrassed by what he saw on Thursday night, offering up an apology to the Celtic fanbase, but he wasn’t willing to take the brunt of the blame himself.
Indeed, the manager said that the players were at fault for the performance in Europe, claiming that he needs to change the culture at the club.
“If we can’t defend as a unit, then we’re going to concede goals. The hungrier team won and that’s on the players,” Lennon said.
“”I’ll have to change the culture. We’ll need to have a sea change over the next couple of days.
“We go from playing very well in the semi-final to such an insipid performance. I defend the players to the hilt, but I can’t defend that.”
It’s hard to agree with Lennon on this matter.
This is largely the same group of players that won the SPFL last season and many of the players in the dressing room have multiple winners’ medals to their names.
The culture at Celtic has been a winning culture for the past decade, and this only seems to have become a problem very recently.
We’re not saying it’s not solely down to Lennon’s management, but the fact that he’s thrown his players under the bus like this is quite remarkable.
Sparta Prague may have been hungrier, and yes, that is partially on the players, but it’s Lennon’s job to keep them motivated for games like this.
Everyone at the club needs to have a long, hard look in the mirror after this result.
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