Lennon suffers in first real test
Celtic slumped to a miserable 3-0 defeat to Braga of Portugal in the opening game of Champions League qualifying campaign yesterday.
Osorio Alan opened the scoring with a first half penalty after Ki Sung-Yeung was harshly, penalised for using his hand.Uwa Echiejile doubled the home teams advantage in the second half and Nascimento Matheus curled a beautiful 30 yard free-kick to settle the match and probablly the tie.
Alan celebrates his opener
It was new coach, Neil Lennons first competitive match and it could’nt have gone much worse. The Celtic team looked disorganised and lost at times making a limited Braga side look far better.
Lennon fielded 4 of his new signings in Joe Ledley, Charlie Mulgrew, Efrain Juarez and Cha Du-Ri. Mulgrew and Cha Du Ri looked especially weak on the flanks with the Portugeses gliding past in more than a few occasions.
Surprisingly, Aiden McGeady was omitted from the squad (an injured back given as the reason) and mis-fit Shaun Maloney started in his place and his first game since last October. Want-away Georgios Samaras ploughed a lone furrow up-front.
Lennon was bullish in defeat citing :
“We lost the game to three set-pieces, which was very disappointing,I thought we were comfortable in the game. At times, we could have passed the ball better.
“Some of our better ball players didn’t take care of the ball as well as they should have done at times.”
This summary flattered his players as in reality the team was fairly abject not even managing to record a shot on target. If Celtic want to gain success this season they will have to gel very quickly. Europe, however is already beyond them.
