NEIL LENNON ACCUSED Celtic of conceding “crazy, suicidal” goals against CFR Cluj as they suffered a shock Champions League qualifying defeat.
The Scottish champions were beaten 4-3 in Glasgow on Tuesday to lose the tie 5-4 on aggregate and miss out on a play-off match against Slavia Prague.
Celtic were 1-0 down at half-time but moved 2-1 up through James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard, only for Abdel Billel Omrani to level the scores from the penalty spot.
The hosts hit back through Ryan Christie but Omrani struck again to make it 3-3 before George Tucudean made Cluj’s passage to the next round secure with the last kick of the game.
Celtic manager Lennon admitted his team were not good enough in the first half and felt they threw the lead away with their poor defending.
“The goals we conceded are crazy,” he told BBC Radio Scotland. “You’ve got to do the basics well – you’ve got to stop crosses, close people down, get your head on things – and it was almost as if we scored and wanted to switch off and control the game.
In the first half, we were way too passive, way too slow with the tempo, so we gave them a bit of a razz at half-time and we got the right response going 2-1 up. But we needed that two-goal cushion. It’s suicidal the goals we gave away.
“The first goal, we got a warning before that, and we still didn’t stop the cross and the guy’s got across for a run. If you don’t do the basics defensively well enough then, at this level, you get punished.
We’ve let it go. We’ve only ourselves to blame. We had the lead and we let it slip through our own decision-making, really.”
Lennon is keen to lift his side’s spirits before they now prepare for a play-off to reach the Europa League group stages.
“We’ve got to work with the players. We’ve got to raise their morale, first of all,” he said.
“We’re going to get a bit of criticism and that’s totally par for the course. We’ve worked really hard to get where we are and we’ve basically thrown it away. We’ve got some good defenders but for some reason they wanted to slow the game down.”
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#4 is madness (if Ive read it right), a team that doesnt get to the Ulster final (eg Armagh lets say) will have a knock out game against (randomly) either a Dublin/Kerry etc or a Clare/Westmeath.. The provincial championships are too unbalanced to be the basis of any seeding
A definite no on the first one. The others might be interesting, though unlikely to see every club introduce an underage hurling team.
@Ian Cunningham: Me thinks number one a great idea. Watching underage players now when they get onto a divisional never mind county panel, think they don’t have to show up for club games. Club ought to always come first for players, unfortunately though, there’s no money for the association incoming from club games, it’s inter county that generates that, alas this motion be turned down
@Jed Ward: Cork have enough injury concerns without having to worry about fellas playing meaningless RedFM League matches. If it was county championship matches maybe. That’s what the split season is for.
@Jed Ward: . The demands on inter county players at both underage and senior level are huge. Younger inter county players between the ages of 19 and 22 have in many cases the very significant additional demands of university competitions to cope with. A balance has to be struck. These huge demands are leading to soft tissue injuries. Additional demands being placed on this group of players are highly questionable.
@Richard Ford: as you say “the demands” on amateur players. There is actually no need to elaborate on this. The top brass don’t give a fiddle about “the demands” on players, players are just a commodity for their chunky pay packets and Croke Park
Would love to see football format returned to lose a game and you’re out of provincial championship. Four province winners go to all Ireland semi final and winners of that game onto final. Then again, it’s all about the money, so not a hope of ever seeing that format again in either code
@Jed Ward: given the commitment and training that players put in these days, you can’t have fellas knocked out after one game.
@Jed Ward: Catch yourself on. That format is outdated and way past its sell by date.
@Richard Ford: all about the money money money,
@Ian it’s taking to absolute Michael out of players who are amateur with all the training and commitment they put in. Again it’s all about the money money money. The Grab All Airgead association.
@Jed Ward: OK, you’re one of them. A GAA hater, who knows nothing about the GAA, but has a smart nickname.
@Ian Cunningham: 100% correct there Ian. Actually I’m an ex county player, now coaching an underage level and vice chairman with my juvenile club.
@Jed Ward: what a crock of … .