Neil Lennon took to twitter to join the great debate about his team selection against Juventus.
The Celtic boss found few backers for his decision to play Efe Ambrose which the hoops boss admitted was a risk.
Ambrose was at fault for the first and third goals scored by Juve but rather than hide from the decision Lennon took to twitter to discuss the matter with his 180,000 plus followers.
Explaining his decision to pick Ambrose the Celtic boss tweeted: “I wanted the pace at centre-half plus he and Kelvin Wilson been fantastic together in Europe.”
While twitter brings communication to the masses it also gives the abusive their chance to gain 15 minutes of fame with cheap criticisms thrown at the Celtic boss.
The hoops enjoyed more possession than they did against Barcelona, pinning Juventus back for long periods and forcing them into some desperate defending at corners with the assistance of Spanish referee Alberto Mallenco.
As the various interpretations of the game were thrown at him Lennon replied: “You must have been watching a different game from me . . . we pegged them back for long periods of the game.”
Lennon added: “Utter rubbish . . . they wanted control of the game but the players never let them breathe . . . our pressing was great.
“Just a stereotypical way of looking at the game . . . there is no depth to your opinion on the game.”
Some old school types suggested that twitter wasn’t the place for Lennon to discuss team matters with the Celtic boss delivering a straightforward solution: “Don’t follow me then.”
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‘dont follow me then’ – brilliant lol
WE ARE ALL NEIL LENNON!
In Lennie i trust.Thanks for the fantastic European nights.Please lets hump the cheating bassas in the return leg.We missed big Sammy hope he is fit next time in my opinion our best player in europe.
HH
Well done Lenny… I felt it was the wrong decision to play big Ambrose as well but he has had a great partnership with Wilson this season so I can understand why he got the nod.
Neil’s also right in what he says about pegging them back, unfortunately for us the shots and crosses were too close to the goalie!!!
Good man Lenny ,dont take no sh#t from nobody .
dont worry neil every one makes mistakes you have turned the team around things will get better what we need is a big centre forward to get in to them sell hooper 10 million x we will be back next season bigger better and wiser hail hail gbnl x
He doesn’t need to justify his selections, results speak for themselves. Better to admit HE got it wrong and move on, I’d certainly not place blame on any individual player(s).
We should be working on becoming much more streetwise, can’t believe we didn’t expect such tactics and plan accordingly. He has seen & played against Italian sides who are masters at man-marking so why try to hit static targets.
Game is long gone & while we showed some encouraging signs we badly lacked someone to control the tempo. No side can sustain the pressing game for 90 mins & we can’t keep possession ala Barca long enough to give OUR players a breather.
Glad he recognised the shortage of pace in central defence though…vital in Europe. So with Rogne moving on we need a classy / pacey replacement.
Had Lenny not picked Efe there would have been a bigger todo about it so well done boss for having the guts to do it.I think we lost the tie because the ref had got a backhander from the sly men from Turin and he did not have the belly too send any of them off. Probably with fear of the gangster boys from Italy.EUFA will have too sort out refs and linesmen and the extra men behind the goal as they do heehoe!
Reality check with some Celtic fans- team has been magnificent getting this far, fans who criticise Lenny need to get a grip!!
I think it was a learning experience all round.
I would like to think that the team had been watching video’s of Juventus for the last two weeks; watching their movement, positions players like to take up etc.
This is really where Ambrose was unprepared. He basically went into the game unpreped. As far as I’m aware he also played right back in the African Cup of Nations and this will explain the huge gap between him and Wilson in the first half.
It will also be a learning experience for Lennon, as indeed every game at this level should be, with him realising that he should have explained to the Ambrose that he had decided to go to the ACN and that this put his place in jeopardy for the Champions League. It may also have had an impact on team moral a player that has been away from the club for a month arrives tthe morning of the biggest game of the season and walks straight into the team.
I’m all for the manager communicating with the fans and I think it is great but this is a more complex issue of just playing one player over another.