Neil Lennon was quick to cut off the constant talk about Sunday’s opposition when he faced the media at Hampden today.
On Tuesday before facing Hamilton Accies the hoops boss had to remind the questioners that there was still a game to go before he would start thinking about the League Cup Final.
At today’s broadcast media conference there wasn’t a single question about Lennon’s full-back options. Was Jeremie Frimpong ready for such an occasion, was Boli Bolingoli fit enough to last the duration of the match after more than a month out with a hamstring injury.
Beyond questions about Odsonne Edouard’s fitness there was barely a mention about Lennon’s players, not about the midweek heroics of Scott Brown or the continued excellence of Callum McGregor.
Instead the questions were about Alfredo Morelos, the improvement in Steven Gerrard’s squad and an attempt to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Ibrox squad.
Without questioning Lennon had to state how Celtic had improved this season, in terms of results and performances. After raising that issue there was no supplementary question to the Celtic manager.
Question) The first game of the season at Ibrox, Morelos didn’t start. How much of a different team do you think
I’ve no idea, I’m not concerned about Rangers, Raman. You can ask Steven that, it’s not my team. I don’t watch them every day in training, obviously I’ve watched some of their games this week and a bit of analysis. Are they a better team with him (Morelos) in it? He scores a lot of goals, he’s a good player. So I can’t comment on whether they are a better team with him in it or not.
What I do know is that I think they have improved, they are improving but what I think gets overlooked is we are improving as well, the results and the performances would back that up.
Question) From what you have seen of Rangers this season what do you think their strengths are and what
Look I’m not going to sit here and talk about Rangers, about their strengths and weaknesses, I’m not going to give anything away. I don’t like talking about the opposition, they are a quality side and they’ve proved that over the course of the season so far. That’s all I need to say on Rangers. We respect them but I know that I have a quality side as well who are playing very well so I can only focus on what my team will do.