Neil Lennon insists Celtic players are running on empty as they look to get players out of the treatment room and back onto the pitch. The Parkhead side missed the chance to go ten points clear at the top of the table yesterday afternoon after being held to a 0-0 draw with Aberdeen but Lennon has insisted that he was fairly relaxed about the performance. “It could have been better, no question, but these players are giving me everything. Some of them are running on fumes," said the interim Celtic manager.
“The squad’s decimated with injuries at the minute so hopefully we’ll get a few more bodies back.
“Guys like Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, Olivier Ntcham - any team would miss those players, they’re top class midfielders.
“But Scott Brown and Nir Bitton have done absolutely fine. We just lacked a bit of creativity, our final ball was a little lacking, and we didn't work Joe Lewis well enough.
“But you have to give Aberdeen credit as well, they're a tough nut to crack at times." And Lennon also insisted that he had been braced for a hangover following Brendan Rodgers' swift move to Leicester last week. There was no immediate reaction as Celtic beat Hearts and Hibs in Edinburgh in the immediate aftermath of his departure but for Lennon there was always going to be reaction.
“It was a bit flat and pedestrian for my liking," he said.
“I’d like us to play with a bit more oomph and aggression.
“But there's no panic, not from my side of things, and the players shouldn’t be disappointed.
“It was more psychological than anything, they just lacked that bit of pizzazz in the final third.
“But we’ve had three really diffusely games to negotiate in 10 days and we’ve come out of it unscathed.
“We’ll give them a couple of days’ rest then move forward. We’ll analyse what we could have done better, but just physically they looked a little off it today and I get that.
“It's natural, they have an adrenaline rush for a couple of days and there’s always a lull afterwards."
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