Lennon doubts ‘very poor’ derby display will affect Celtic job prospects

Neil Lennon insists he does not fear Celtics lifeless display at Ibrox will cost him his chance of landing the Parkhead job permanently.The champions had a day to forget against Rangers as they allowed Steven Gerrards side to coast to a 2-0 win in the final Old Firm clash of the season.Goals from James Tavernier and Scott Arfield sent the Light Blue fans into delirium but the defeat could yet have consequences for Lennon.Celtic interim boss Neil Lennon admits his sides performance at Ibrox as very poor (Andrew Milligan/PA)The interim Hoops boss is still waiting to learn if he will be kept on beyond this months William Hill Scottish Cup final.The Northern Irishman was tasked with nudging the clubs triple treble push over the line when he was brought back in the wake of Brendan Rodgers Leicester switch.His team have already wrapped up their eighth league title on the spin and can complete an historic third domestic clean sweep when they face Hearts at Hampden on May 25. @James_Tavernier and @scottyarf with the goals at Ibrox. pic.twitter.com/uCIAGMQzig Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) May 12, 2019Lennon, though, was far from happy with his sides performance in the fourth derby contest of the campaign, accusing his players of failing to match Gers in the hunger stakes.But asked if the display might sway the Hoops hierarchys decision on whether he stays on after the summer, he replied: Ive no idea, I wouldnt have thought so.We have come through a lot of big games recently, meaningful games. Im not saying this isnt meaningful, but quarter-finals, semi-finals, league games. We got the title won last weekend and have a cup final to look forward to. Then maybe I will know after that.Lennon could not hide his disappointment with his sides performance.Poor very poor, was his assessment. Lacked energy and desire. And Lacked quality. The hungrier team won today and thats the biggest criticism I can lay at the players feet.We looked flat and like we were just fulfilling the fixture today and thats obviously not good enough.Rangers were deserved winners over Celtic at Ibrox (Jeff Holmes/PA)I had to tell the players, whether Im here or not next year, that performance is just not good enough for a derby.Lennon claimed before the game that Rangers had a huge disciplinary problem having had 12 players sent-off this year.And he insisted they should have had another when Jon Flanagan thrust his arm into the face of Scott Brown early in the second half.Lennon felt Jon Flanagan should have seen red rather than yellow following an incident involving Scott Brown (Jeff Holmes/PA)The former Hibernian boss said: Its a red card. Again. How the referee has not given that as a red card I dont know. Its an elbow into his face.Rangers got off to a flying start when, just two minutes in, Taverniers free-kick was allowed to drift in at the back post by Scott Bain.With the Hoops looking out of sorts, Rangers capitalised again after 65 minutes as Arfield pounced to prod home the second after brilliant work by Glen Kamara.Steven Gerrards Rangers have beaten Celtic twice at Ibrox this season (Jeff Holmes/PA)The victory which cuts Celtics lead to six points counts for little in the larger scheme of things but will renew belief among the blue half of Glasgow that they can finally halt their bitter rivals era of domination after the summer.And Gerrard, whose side have now both of their derby showdowns on home soil, agreed, saying: We should take a lot of belief and confidence from this performance and this result.If you analyse the four derby games I think weve been more than a match. That hasnt been the area where we have fallen short. We have drawn too many games elsewhere. There has been one or two disappointing defeats within that as well.It is a huge challenge here. Just because we have won today and performed very well it doesnt make it any easier next season.Celtic arent going to go away, theyre going to improve. Theres still a target for us which is to try and knock them off their perch. REACTION: Steven Gerrard spoke to @RangersTV after todays Old Firm victory. pic.twitter.com/JFyC94LvZv Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) May 12, 2019As I say, we are very respectful to the challenge and the opposition, but we have to take confidence and belief from games like this.At our best we have shown that we can compete and beat them, but we have to do it over a longer period of time. That is a bigger challenge.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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