Sir Kenny Dalglish: Celtic players owe Neil Lennon a performance

Steve Clarke will look to achieve a result in Serbia more in line with the 3-3 draw Rangers got in Benfica, than the 4-1 defeat Celtic suffered at home to Sparta Prague.

That was a very poor performance, and Neil Lennon is absolutely right to ask questions of his players and demand more from them.

The thing is, as we all know, if the guys in the green-and-white hoops don’t do better, then it’s the manager who gets the sack.

Not the players.

I know they have problems in the defensive area of the team right now, and key men – like Kristoffer Ajer and Christopher Jullien – have been unavailable.

But there should still be a higher level of performance.

Even if the players don’t want to do it for the manager, they should want to do it for themselves and the Celtic supporters.

Whether you like the manager or not, it shouldn’t stop you from running, tackling and closing down an opponent.

So a huge improvement is required today in the Premiership game away to Motherwell.

They all need to stick together, and it would be a sad state of affairs if the squad throws it all away after what they’ve achieved together in the past few years.

After the Sparta defeat, I thought Callum McGregor spoke very well on TV, and gave a frank assessment.

Some of his team-mates need to show that same level of honesty on the park today to get the right result at Fir Park.

Across the city, the Rangers players are full of confidence.

Their result in Lisbon was excellent, even though Steven was disappointed not to hold on to a two-goal lead against 10 men.

But they’ve given themselves an outstanding chance of qualifying for the Europa League last 32.

Alfredo Morelos surpassed Ally McCoist’s European goalscoring record in the draw against Benfica.

So he’ll be on a high, and fancy himself to score and help his team to three points against Hamilton Accies this afternoon.