Criticism of Celtic has bordered on hysteria, says boss Neil Lennon

Defiant Neil Lennon has launched a bullish defence of his under-fire side as he insisted criticism aimed at Celtic has bordered on hysteria.Critics have rounded on the Hoops boss and his team since they were dumped out of the Champions League by Romanians Cluj last week.The flak intensified after it took extra-time and a deflected James Forrest strike to see off Championship side Dunfermline in the Betfred Cup on Saturday.But Lennon has hit out at those rushing to write Celtic off and believes his side can restore their European prestige by fighting past AIK Stockholm to reach the Europa League group stages.Ahead of hosting the Swedes on Thursday, the Northern Irishman called for calm, saying: Its not me that is creating the headlines or shouting out the criticism. #CELCLU match report. https://t.co/V83SJBYAo0 Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 13, 2019Im very supportive of the players and was after Cluj and Dunfermline. Weve lost one game I didnt believe we deserved to and thats the harsh realities of the game.Were fine. Were absolutely fine. Its like everyone out there is head down. Were not. Were bullish and looking forward to the games.There has to be a sense of perspective.I cant control that but there has been a little bit of hysteria at times. That is the environment youre in in Glasgow sometimes.Lennon was left frustrated by his sides defensive lapses against Cluj (Jane Barlow/PA)Weve lost one game and scored three goals in it, so its not all doom and gloom.We have to be bullish about things and look forward. Its a big disappointment to be out of the Champions League but the Europa League is a very good competition that hopefully we can prosper in.Theres a narrative going around that we might be a little bit off colour. Were not.Were absolutely not and hopefully the players can go out and show that tomorrow.We have a big season ahead. Were two league games in and have scored 12 goals.Varsgoda Glasgow! @pelle2323 och AIK r hr nu. pic.twitter.com/5GDtTROtLE AIK Fotboll (@aikfotboll) August 21, 2019People are entitled to criticise me and the players but there has to be a sense of balance.Celtic have made the group stage of the Champions League or the Europa League every season since 2011 and Lennon believes it is vital his side maintain that record.Lennon, who is still hoping to add three or four new faces to his squad before the September 2 transfer deadline, added: Obviously the players want to show they have some European pedigree.Its important we get through. It gives us gravitas, opens the season up and gives us European football to look forward to towards Christmas, so its an important couple of games.Lennon has some useful contacts in Sweden but admits his former Parkhead number two Johan Mjallby may not be willing to divulge too much about his sides opponents.Johan Mjallby (left) was Lennons assistant for four years during the Northern Irishmans first spell in charge of Celtic (Danny Lawson/PA)Ill speak to Johan before the game but hes an AIK legend as well as a Celtic legend, so he may have divided loyalties, he grinned.Hes a very good friend of mine and my number two for four years during my first spell. Hes coming to the game I believe so it will be good to see him.It will be a tough game. Swedes have a great mentality. Its vitally important that we start better than we did against Cluj.Weve had a good look at AIK. We watched them last week and had some thorough reports on them. Were prepared and ready to go.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){

(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),

m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)

})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Andy Newport, PA');

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '55472e70-53f4-4ada-9bcf-31fe2249017e');

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk');

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);

ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');

ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Criticism of Celtic has bordered on hysteria, says boss Neil Lennon'});