Why the **** did Lennon decide to **** about with the first 11 and the formation a week after scudding a team 6 nil!
He replaced a man who was ill. What did you expect him to do. It can't be NL fault if a player cannot score from from headers 3 yards out. The team made the chances, they did not take them. Hearts scored first chance and then dominated for 15/20 mins. The rest was all Celtic and the fact that several players missed chances and the referee was Scottish is not N. L. fault.
Hooper was playing right side, with commons through the middle... Brown was sitting in front of the two CBs That's NL fault for trying to be too smart. He only moved to the usual 4 4 2 after he took of Samaras. The players let Celtic down but so did Neil Lennon.
We don't have Larsson and Lube anymore so creating twelve or more chances isn't going to see ten goals... But it should see more than one Luckily we can fix that in the future
Lube - is that used to **** teams. What about Ibrahim and Brozek - why haven't we seen these guys. Is Ibrahim no supposed to be skillfull???
Can't give Ibrahim his first run out in a semi. Dylan did ok. Carved out one or two good opportunities. I don't know why Hooper was so deep.
Missed chances have cost us the treble, that is the bottom line, enough chances to win two games against Kilmarnock in the CIS, enough chances to easily win today and we didnt take them. If you dont dont take your chances and put games to bed you are giving the ref a chance to effect the outcome of the game. We need a top class striker in to play with Samaras because Hooper and Stokes will be useless in the Champions League, if we somehow manage to get there.
Easier said than done. We don't have the money and its unlikely you can attract quality to the spl. The same logic applies to those saying lennon should go. Who else are we going to get to do the job? I like lennon he has the best interests of the club at heart, doesn't demand money for signings and most importantly the players believe in him. Plus we are making progress, scottish cup last year, spl title this year (fairly) and next year i'll settle for group stages of champions league and another title.
I totally agree about the tinkering, its something he is far too prone to. To be honest , I didnt want to be the one to say it and further enhance my alleged anti-lennon credentials
Pud, it is usually agreed by people who knows something about football that the Manager knows his best side to put out as he normally has watched them during the week. There is not a top class manager anywhere who doesn't tinker a little bit with his team from week to week ( maybe moving one player a little wide ). The common consensus is that the manager doesn't want his team to be too predictable. The slight change of emphasis between Hooper and Commons role is not one we are likely to pick up in another team as we would not put other teams under such scrutiny. Brown played more of a defensive midfielder maybe than normal as their had been a slight doubt about a wee goin injury. I think anyone who watched the game and saw the number of chances we made, and didn't put away really shouldn't be rushing to find fault with the Manager. The missed chances and the deliberate cheating by the referee merit more discussion than the minimal changes by N. Lennon. Sometimes we are told the referee has made a genuine mistake, but with the penalty given at the end it is clearly a black and white issue for the referee. I know many blind people may not see any difference between Victor and Ledley but at least you would expect a referee who has visited speck-savers to know. Another Black issue in which he definitely cheated was when Ian Black tried to break Ledley's leg below the knee. He seen it and give a yellow. Hearts players and Manager knowing Black expected a red. It should have been red, and shortly afterwards ref give red card against Black and ref sprinted as fast possible to get away. This must have been a set-up because ref wore a blue top and for the first time since the disgraced Dallas had to leave Scottish Football because of his bigotry, Dallas chose to speak to condemn Neil Lennon. So what chance has Neil got both Pud and Hughie against him.
No manager in their right mind would feck about with a team one week after scudding a team 6-0 away! Lennon got his set up and formation wrong from the kick off. Lennon was trying to be too smart for his own good. Lennon then tried to correct it by putting Hooper in his natural postion (through the middle not wide right/dropping deep) when he took Samaras off. Commons - hardly kicks a bal all season but suddnly godo enough to play through the middle in a cup semi final against Hearts who always cause Celtic problems. It's plain to see to the even minded/sensible ones on here. As to ... Yeah, what chance has he got when someone critices him!
Againts Hearts: Forster Lustig Loovens K. Wilson Mulgrew Brown Ki Ledley Hooper Commons Samaras Bad gamble, if playing anyone at DM: Wanyama should have played in that position... Where he is most effective. Against Killie Forster Matthews Loovens K. Wilson Mulgrew Brown Ki Ledley Commons Samaras Hooper A much better team (OK Matthews was unavailable). For a semi final, if Brown was struggling, and Lennon didn't want to play Victor, play Brown in the middle with Ki, Ledley left n Commons right.
