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Charlie Nicholas in shock Celtic u-turn

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Charlie Nicholas has claimed that Neil Lennon’s Celtic side is better than the one he inherited in February from Brendan Rodgers.

The Sky Sports pundit is known for some incredible changes of mind, tipping Celtic to lose away to Rennes based on their European away record which consisted of three wins and a draw going into the match in France.

More famously he tipped the title to head for Ibrox in January as soon as he heard about the loan deals for Jermain Defoe and Steve Davis, despite a change of manager Celtic tied up the title with a winning margin of nine points.

Wins over Lazio and Aberdeen have reinforced Celtic’s place in the SPFL and Europa League with Nicholas quick to jump on-board the Lenny bandwagon.

Covering his column in The Express, The Sun reports the former Celtic and Aberdeen striker saying:

Neil Lennon has taken Celtic up another level from the Brendan Rodgers era. The first 45 minutes at Pittodrie was as good a performance as I have seen in a long time. You have to give Lenny credit for that.

Yes, the squad he inherited from Rodgers was superior to every other team in Scotland, but he has improved it. He has adopted the technical side of the game that Rodgers built and added speed and urgency, with defenders also getting involved.

The Hoops have strength in depth in all positions. The only player you would say is guaranteed to start every game is Odsonne Edouard, but Lenny has options all over the rest of the pitch.

There was some negativity from supporters when the Northern Irishman was appointed on a long-term basis in May but he has wiped away all of that now.

People will talk about Rodgers’ achievements at Parkhead and the Invincible campaign that saw them go through 47 domestic games in 2016/17 without defeat, but Celtic were starting to go backwards in his final season.

Rodgers is a sensational coach and is proving that with Leicester City in the Premier League, but Lenny has built on those foundations at Celtic and made the team better.

It’s not often that Nicholas is on the same wavelength as most Celtic fans but on this issue he seems in perfect harmony.

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