Since Tuesday’s battling media conference by Neil Lennon the focus has shifted from the Celtic team to the media and management.
Lennon put up a more than robust defence of himself and his players after a run of three matches without a win while turning the tables on those reporting with glee his downfall.
In doing so Lennon hit out spectacularly at the media- calling out two newspapers that staged polls calling for his sacking and Kris Commons for his Over The Top attack on Shane Duffy.
Straight away the tide turned. The spotlight was off Lennon and the three game winless run as the role of the media and their hysteria came under review.
From Tuesday afternoon to Thursday night the attention and criticism was discussed and debated across newspapers, radio stations and Social Media. But no one told Moi Elyounoussi!
3 minutes 30 seconds
Quetion: The team, the manager, has come under a lot of criticism lately Mohammed, how have you felt about that. How have you felt that the manager has dealt with everything recently, over the last week or so?
Answer: I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t been. I don’t read this, newspapers you know, I don’t read this criticism. Why you should criticise him. He has shown over many, many years that he is a good manager. We believe in him and his staff.
Of course it has been a difficult week for us, I think that we have to stick together, stick to the plan and we come out stronger. I mean there is no point to talk about these things, we are 100% behind him of course.
It is a well-used tactic from players and managers down the years to say that they don’t read the papers while ensuring that every critical word is on their desk in the morning.
With circulation crashing, the Daily Record hasn’t sold 100,000 copies a day in the last six month, the claim does now carry credibility.
For a non-Scot like Elyounoussi his phone and Social Media will provide him with all the information he needs without looking at the back pages and wondering how many points he got out of 10. Should he care to look The Sun awarded him a nine for last night’s performance against Lille.