A resolute and well organised Aberdeen ground out a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park yesterday, which put a bit of a dampener on everyones weekend.<\/p>\n
Described as compact by “experts “, Derek McInnes parked the bus and set out to get a clean sheet.<\/p>\n
He got one.<\/p>\n
From Celtic’s point of view, there were the usual claims that there was too much of the Brown -Biton side to side stuff, but if you can’t see a pass to play, then don’t give the ball away.<\/p>\n
An impatient -and freezing cold-crowd showed their frustrations, and with Aberdeen clearly playing to hit Celtic on the break, it was important not to concede possession and try to capitalise on openings when they appeared.<\/p>\n
however, not starting Oddsone Edoaurd seemed to be a mistake , as that left Celtic with no recognised strikers, which was always going to make it difficult to prise an opening goal, which would have altered the game considerably, but the longer it went on, the more Aberdeen were happy with their lot.<\/p>\n
Does a goalless draw at home really justify the calls for Lennon not to be made full time manager in the summer?<\/p>\n
In itself, no.<\/p>\n
But how he deals with it will.<\/p>\n
After the game, he defended his players, as a manager should;<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d have loved to have won the game and been 10 points clear,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut you can\u2019t have everything and they gave me everything today so I\u2019m not going to whip them for that performance. It\u2019s totally understandable. I understand the psychology of a player – a long time ago I was a player myself.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe performance was okay. We were a little bit flat, a little bit leggy but I understand that. I don\u2019t think we had time to adjust last week with two games back-to-back. There was always going to be a little bit of a lull and you could see that. I think it\u2019s more psychological than anything else. We just lacked that little bit of pizzazz in the final third.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe had that adrenaline rush in the first couple of days and there was always going to be that lull afterwards. We had three really difficult games to negotiate in the last 10 days and we\u2019ve come out of it unscathed. We take the point, still unbeaten since the turn of the year. It could have been better, there\u2019s no question about that but these players have given me everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n To be fair, whenever Celtic had possession in the final third, they were crowded out by what seemed to be dozens of Aberdeen players.<\/p>\n We could point to the omission of Edouard as a mistake, and with hindsight it probably was, but Edoaurd has done well from the bench, and maybe the plan was to bring him on when the Dons began to tire, as they would be expected to.<\/p>\n Whats more significant is the absence of MacGregor, Christie, Rogic and Ntcham. Lennon cannot be blamed for that, and it any one of those players involved yesterday would have made a difference to the style and shape if not the outcome.<\/p>\n Removing Scott Sinclair was also strange. The man has a superb record against Aberdeen, and often does-or appears to do -little in a game before popping up with a crucial goal .<\/p>\n Its easy to criticise Lennon for not having a plan , but his plan had to adapt to the personnel available.<\/p>\n As he noted afterward..<\/p>\n “Any team would miss the players we have out,\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re top-class midfield players but Broony and Bitton have done absolutely fine. We just lacked that little bit of creativity. Our final ball was a little bit lacking and our final cross wasn\u2019t there. You\u2019ve got to give Aberdeen credit, they\u2019re a tough nut to crack sometimes.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSome of them are running on fumes. The squad\u2019s decimated with injuries at the minute and hopefully we\u2019ll get a few more bodies back and some quality players to add to what we already have.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n There’s work to be done, but I’d say there was little to worry about.<\/p>\n One thing that is a concern is the recent spate of attacks on players.<\/p>\n And stewards..<\/p>\n