CHRIS SUTTON reckons his old Celtic team-mate Neil Lennon is facing a torrid time after yet another unacceptable European defeat.
The champions were sent packing from the Europa League with two games still to play after they nosedived to their second consecutive 4-1 loss to Sparta Prague in three weeks in the Czech capital last night.
It was the latest humbling loss in a sequence that has seen only two wins in nine games and Lennon has been coming under fire with his team toiling to reproduce last season’s form.
Odsonne Edouard threw the Irishman and his team-mates a lifeline with the opening goal in the 15th minute before the roof fell in on them after some truly appalling defending with the home team looking a threat every time they crossed the halfway line.
Sutton has previously defended the boss, as CQN reported, but moments after full-time in the Czech Republic capital, he tweeted: “Hard for Neil Lennon to see this out after that.”
The past nine matches have seen the Hoops win only two while shipping a colossal 21 goals while slipping 11 points behind Steven Gerrard’s Govan club in their quest for a tenth successive title.
They meet Ross County at Parkhead on Sunday as they kick off their defence of the Betfred League Cup they have won for the previous four years and they still have to face Championship side Hearts in the delayed Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on December 20.
Lennon is 90 minutes away from becoming only the fourth manager in the club’s history to win the domestic clean sweep following the legendary Jock Stein, who achieved the feat in 1966/67 and 1968/69, Martin O’Neill (2000/01) and Brendan Rodgers (2016/17 and 2017/18).
If he is successful against the Tynecastle outfit, the Parkhead men will have won their twelfth successive domestic honour and completed the phenomenal quadruple treble.
However, after last night’s depressing debacle, much work is required before Celtic can think about gatecrashing the history books yet again.
