Neil Lennon has warned his players that they can’t live on the past- a charge that many supporters are levelling at the Celtic manager.
Today’s match made for brutal viewing with little shape or pattern to Celtic’s play as an organised and efficient opponent picked them off without being close to top form.
Despite an eight match winning run only the 3-0 win over Hibs has been convincing with Lennon’s side struggling to recapture the form that allowed them to storm to the title last season.
Celtic don’t have another home match in the SPFL until December 6- before then they have trips to Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hibs as well as Europa League fixtures and a Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.
AC Milan on Thursday, even if not at full strength will be a massive test with Lennon challenging his players to find their A game.
After today’s defeat The Sun reports the Celtic boss saying:
It’s early in the season though and you can’t listen to all the noise outside. Can they respond? Absolutely.
They’ve done it before but they can’t live on the past. This is the present and we’ve got a title race on our hands and we have to roll out sleeves up and do better.
I have no idea if these derby games will be vital. If they are then we will have to make up for it over time.
We’ve got a game in hand we have to win and assess where we are from there. You can’t base everything on four games a season, you have to be consistent all year.
Ryan Christie may be available to face AC Milan but Chris Jullien and Odsonne Edouard are expected to miss out.
