Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has backed Ange Postecoglou to become an even better manager and has told critics to lay off the former Socceroos boss.
As a player and manager Lennon knows all about the criticism that comes your way after some bad results in the Champions League.
The 51-year old was the last Hoops boss to make any sort of impact in the competition a decade ago as he led his side to the last 16.
He believes it’s unfair for Postecoglou to be receiving any criticism at this point with this being the clubs first return to the top level of European football in five years.
“I think the criticism is a little bit too much. Celtic haven’t been in the Champions League group stage since Brendan Rodgers five years ago, so they are novices. They are rebuilding,” said Neil Lennon as quoted by The Scottish Sun.
“They were very unlucky not to beat Leipzig and Shakhtar.
“The performances have been good — just not the results.
“Ange will get better for this. He will feel he’s a much better manager for the experience.”
Celtic’s Champions league dreams are over for this season but the Scottish champions still have a chance of qualifying for European football after Christmas if they can manage to defeat Shakhtar at Celtic Park and pick up a positive result in Madrid.
This has also been a huge learning curve for a lot of those involved in the competition for the first time.
They will not instantly transform into Champions League stars overnight but what is imperative is that the Hoops have full focus on winning the league title to once again gain automatic entry into the competition and go again.
