Stiliyan Petrov comments on future of Celtic manager Neil Lennon

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Stiliyan Petrov has told TalkSPORT (Friday, 12.10pm) that Neil Lennon will not be affected by the increasing pressure on his role as Celtic manager – despite a second successive defeat to AC Milan on Thursday night.

Despite having numerous players on the sidelines at Celtic, Lennon has been heavily criticised for his tactics and use of a back three as Rangers cruised to a 2-0 win at Parkhead on Saturday. It saw Rangers go four points clear.

Ryan Christie returned on Thursday but the Hoops remain without James Forrest, Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Jullien. Lennon’s men lost 3-1 to AC Milan, and only put up any kind of a fight when they reverted to a four-man defence.

Prior to the loss to Rangers, Lennon’s side had won 10 of their previous 11 outings. But the pressure is now increasing on Lennon, however, Celtic icon Petrov is confident his former teammate will come through the other side – again.

“It was always going to be difficult, Milan had a great result at Inter on the weekend,” Petrov said. “When things are not going well, there is always going to be pressure,” Petrov said.

Asked if Gordon Strachan would be a good replacement, Petrov rsponded: “Strachan is great but I think Lennon has been through it enough to cope with it [pressure]. We give up on people way to it easily, this won’t be the end of Neil Lennon.”

TBR’s view – Lennon deserves time, Celtic form hardly his fault

Celtic’s core includes the likes of Edouard, Jullien, Christie and Forrest and without that quartet, the starting XI dramatically loses a big chunk of its quality. It must also be remembered that Celtic have a game in hand.

Win that, and Celtic are a point behind Rangers. Milan was always going to be difficult. Another consideration that seems to be continually missed is that Celtic have won 11 games out of 15 this season, which is stunning form.

Yes, Lennon needs to get the best out of his players again – but he deserves time.