You can look at the overall picture with the board and the money being spent or not but Tuesday night’s Champions League exit was so avoidable it hurts that bit more.
No, Peter Lawwell hasn’t done all he can but Neil Lennon’s decision making on the night along with individual errors cost us this tie.
So many fans were confused by the team lineup when it came out on Tuesday evening. No sign of our new left-back in the starting XI, no sign of our £7m centre back and one of our most creative midfielders sitting at left-back; something which was tried back in December by the previous manager and just did not work.
Neil Lennon has now explained why Boli Bolingoli didn’t get into the side and instead he chose to play Callum McGregor and the reason is absurd.
The Irishman left Boli out because he wanted to jam Olivier Ntcham into the team and keep Callum McGregor on the field too.
“I just wanted to get Ntcham into the team.” Lennon confirmed to BBC Scotland before the game as cited by SunSport.
“The more technicians in the team, the better. There’s going to be an adaptation period I’m sure.
“We’ve got good experience in the team tonight and we’re going to need that. Some players take a little bit longer.”
It’s a simple fact that you can’t just stick your best players anywhere and watch them perform. It has been a massive and costly error on Lennon’s part and after the first half, he refused to fix it. When we went ahead, he refused to revert to a more traditional lineup and we shipped FOUR goals at Celtic Park.
You may be screaming at the board today but the loss to Cluj was ridiculously preventable whether you want to admit it or not.
He left Boli out because he wanted to jam Olivier Ntcham into the team and keep Callum McGregor on the field too.then why did not take out Scott Brown then that would have been much better,Scott Brown can be used as sub bit part player for most games no one touches the ball with there hand in there own box,he should be on bench every game and brought on in some games for last 20 mins and as for the keeper then get a new one but drop him now,as for those two CHs they do need to act like men and control the game at the back but we need a seasoned pro CH two LBs a RB and a holding seasoned pro midfielder all in this window spend the money from KT so we can come back from this stronger than ever the world is watching and LOL at us get the players in now….
TELL ME WHO DID NOT SEE THIS SORT OF THING COMING WHEN LENNON CAME BACK – WHO PAYS FOR PLAYERS (MILLIONS BTW) AND DOESN’T PLAY THEM. THE BROWN HANDBALL WAS UTTERLY REPREHENSIBLE BUT ALSO TELLS YOU THAT HE’S NOT ALL THERE.
OK Neil – now tell us that we all suffer these types of losses together and the the whole team didn’t perform. We expected better – but most of knew that we wouldn’t get it. Just like before – you take a win against Motherwell and become overconfident in your next big game. You had a team and a bench that could have destroyed Cluj but you, just as you did in your last tenure, choose to stride in to a game like this thinking you were Brian Clough/Martin ONeil/Jack Charlton/Alf Ramsey or dare I say it Jock Stein. Get of your surfboard Neil – Peter L and you are jokers
You’re right, it’s Lennon’s fault and it was entirely preventable… by the board… in May… by conducting an exhaustive search for the right manager, and not just lazily throwing the job to Lennon.