Lennon: Celtic need to look forward and 'get a groove on'

Neil Lennon believes Celtic need to put their problems behind them and concentrate on extending a run of good results through to the end of the season.

The quadruple treble winners have found a season that had the potential to be groundbreaking instead deliver a series of disappointments, with European exits, cup defeat and a league campaign where Rangers have opened up what looks to be an insurmountable lead in the Premiership.

A winter trip to Dubai brought controversy and criticism, then a positive test for Christopher Jullien and a period of self-isolation for 13 players and three members of staff.

In recent weeks however, the team’s form has turned around, with five league wins on the bounce. Asked if it was regrettable that the team hadn’t found similar performances earlier in the season, Lennon dismissed the idea.

“We don’t let that enter our mind, you can’t dwell on the past,” he said.

“You can analyse it at the end of the season or over the piece.

“We are just concentrating on the present really and getting a groove on.

“We saw some players leave in January (Olivier Ntcham, Jeremie Frimpong), we bought in Jonjoe (Kenny, on loan from Everton) who has been exceptionally good and very consistent and obviously we had the fallout from the Dubai trip as well to deal with which, again, we felt was way over the top.

“We are just looking forward to the games now and keeping that winning form going, keep that winning groove and the level of performance going as best we can until the end of the season and see where it takes us.”

The Celtic manager was quoted earlier this week as saying there were reasons for the team’s troubles this season, saying they “had mitigating circumstances throughout the campaign, some of which I can’t divulge publicly.”

Lennon declined to elaborate on the claim on Friday, saying that “some things have to remain in-house”.

Asked if he was referring to something other than the Dubai trip, coronavirus or injuries, he said there were “All kinds of episodes that had affected the players and the squad one way or another”.