Neil Lennon has told Shakhter Karagandy boss Viktor Kumykov that his confidence ahead of their Champions League play-off second-leg tie against Celtic in Glasgow on Wednesday night could “come back to bite” him.
The Hoops are 2-0 down from the first game against the Kazakhstan champions and Shakhter’s Russian coach was quoted as saying they would also “score a pair of goals” in Glasgow, although he backtracked somewhat later by saying his words had been “misinterpreted”.
Hoops manager Lennon made his feelings on the matter crystal clear, claiming his Shakhter counterpart had been “disrespectful”.
“I think it (their confidence) is very dangerous and it can always come back to bite you,” he said.
“This is a two-game tie and it is disrespectful to my team as well. I don’t need to motivate my players for tomorrow night but if they want to keep talking the way they are doing then that’s fine.
“We know we have to have to win the game by three goals. If they score we need to score four, if they score two according to their manager then we need to score five.
“Looking at the first game in the cold light of day, there is no doubt that we were the better team and created the better chances.
“We have 90 minutes to score two goals. Regardless, we could score the first goal in the 75th minute or 80th minute and that would still give us 10 or 15 minutes to get another one. There is no rush on our part to come out all guns blazing and try to force the early goal.
“So we will let the game take its natural course, as long we have control of the game that is the most important thing.”
The former Celtic skipper insists he is encouraged rather than frustrated by his side’s performance in Astana, where they failed to convert a series of chances while giving away two cheap goals to leave hopes of reaching the lucrative group stages of the tournament for the second successive season in the balance.
“There are deficiencies in the way Shakhter play, we exposed them in the first game but couldn’t take advantage of it,” said Lennon, who gave a firm “no” to one Kazakh journalist who asked if he would step down if Celtic fail to get through.
“So what we have to do is take advantage of the opportunities that we create tomorrow evening. I need my players to play their best and if they play their best then I think they will win this tie.
“We know we had by far and away the bulk of possession and by far and away the bulk of the best chances over there. That gave me a lot of encouragement rather than frustration.
“We know we can create chances against this team and hopefully at home we can take those opportunities.”
Lennon remains riled by accusations of complacency ahead of the trip to Kazakhstan.
“I have plenty of respect for Shakhter,” said the Northern Irishman.
“They play with a lot of heart, spirit and organisation and have certain high-calibre players. What annoys me is that people are throwing accusations that we have underestimated Shakhter.
“We certainly didn’t. We did all our preparation work as best we could. Now we have to rectify what isn’t an insurmountable situation.”