Celtic boss Neil Lennon says the attitude of some of his players “has to be better”

Neil Lennon last night slammed his error-prone Celtic players after watching his side drop another two points in the title race.

“We can’t afford many more slip ups now,” he admitted.

“There’s a long way to go but what I’m looking for is a level of performance and getting a run together.

“The attitude of some of the players has to be better.

“It’s frustrating, it’s head-scratching. The players have to start concentrating and showing a lot more desire.

“We shot ourselves in the foot. Scott Brown’s made a really rash decision that was unnecessary. The second goal is awful.

“It’s just lazy. It is a free header and we didn’t track the run and just let Kevin Nisbet get the shot off. It was so easy.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and we did it. The attitude and quality in the last 20 minutes was excellent but that should be for the 90 minutes.

“We’ve got to get a defensive mode on. We are not doing the nuts and bolts anywhere near well enough.

“There’s a softness about us defensively that we have got to eradicate.

“The first goal comes out of nothing.

“Scott, who was playing very well, just has a real rush of blood for some reason. He needs to take that out of his game.

“There is a long way to go but what I’m looking for is a level of performance and getting a run together.

“The attitude of some of the players has to be better.”

On-loan Rangers winger Jamie Murphy scored one and set up another but Hibernian had to settle for a 2-2 draw against champions Celtic at Easter Road pic.twitter.com/ygx1ybT3Pe

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 21, 2020

Lennon has also made a specific challenge to Ryan Christie to prove he is good enough to play in the English Premier League.

Hoops midfielder Christie was one of the heroes of Scotland’s Euro qualification success with a stunning goal in Serbia.

However, his club boss is not convinced he is yet ready to realise his long-term ambition of playing in the England’s elite league.

He believes the 25-year-old should instead put pen to paper on the new contract that Celtic have offered him.

Christie’s current deal is not up until the summer of 2022 and he has stated he is not in a rush to extend.

“Talks are ongoing between the club and his representatives.

“He has also said he would like a different challenge at some stage in his career.

“Currently, I think he still has a lot to do and prove here at Celtic and to be fair to him he’s worked really hard the last few games.”