Celtic fans have blamed Neil Lennon after their elimination from the UEFA Europa League following a 3-1 loss at home at the hands of FC Copenhagen.
Celtic’s brilliant Europa League campaign came to an anti-climatic end at the hands of Danish Champions, FC Copenhagen, after they suffered a 3-1 defeat at home. And the players will be kicking themselves, aware of the fact that if they had taken their chances, they could have easily put half a dozen past their opponents over the two legs.
The first half was not very open but by the end of it the Hoops were completely on top of the visitors. And they started the second half on the right foot as well, before shooting themselves in the same foot by gifting FC Copenhagen the winner.
But just when looked like all hope was fading away, VAR came to the rescue, handing the home side a lifeline by awarding them a penalty. Odsonne Edouard then did the outrageous by scoring a panenka from the spot to bring things level.
Common sense would say that Celtic would have been the only winners from that position, with the air taken out of FC Copenhagen’s sails due to the late equiliser while the home crowd’s support would have willed the Hoops to victory. Right? Wrong!
The visitors scored twice in quick succession to knock out the Scottish Champions from the competition. And the fans on Twitter felt only one man was to blame – Neil Lennon!
not good enough
— Kyle Mcleod (@kylemcleod67) February 27, 2020
After a week of praising Lennon for the work he has done since taking over from Rodgers last year, this was a rude awakening for the club. While they seem to be quite a bit away from attaining that coveted Champions League spot that they have missed out two seasons in a row.
All three goals were easily avoidable and the schoolboy defending did not help the club out. But one has to question Lennon’s decision to ditch the 3-5-2 formation that has served them so well since the return from the winter break. Also, Simunovic’s continuous presence in the team will be a point of discussion going forward, with the defender seeming incapable of hanging at this level.