Source: FOOTYMAD
No time to relax
The prospect of three trophys at the end of the seaon will make sure Celtic do not take their foot off the pedal Neil Lennon does not believe his squad is entertaining any thoughts of relaxing as they have done all the hard work. The hard work has taken them to the top of the SPL and lined up two meetings with Rangers in cup competitions; a Scottish Cup fifth-round replay and the Co-operative Insurance Cup final. Lennon denied any prospect of a complacent attitude creeping in as he prepared the side for today's game with Dundee United at Tannadice. He said: "I don't think they will take that attitude because they are good professionals. Some of them haven't been course and distance before but some of them have. The ones that are more experienced, if there any signs of complacency, will rein it in as will me and my backroom staff as well. But we are not getting carried away at all. We are pleased, very pleased and we are going into games looking forward to them. Even when we were drawing the games in December the overall performances were decent, it was the results that weren't what we were looking for. But since January onwards we have clicked and hit a purple patch. It can all change very quickly, we know that, but we are hoping we can carry on in the same vein. If we have to grind out results we will do that but I want them to keep expressing themselves and playing the football they have been showing in the last wee while." Lennon claims Freddie Ljungberg is now ready to show why he made the move to bring him to Parkhead. The Swede arrived in Glasgow in January amid a fanfare of trumpets but has been all but forgotten on the sidelines as the Hoops have started the year in impressive form. However, Lennon beleives that the former Arsenal star is now literally up to speed after showing up well in a Celtic reserve team against Shamrock Rovers on Monday. Asked if Ljungberg can make a contribution in the run-in, Lennon replied: "Absolutely, he has a lot to offer. He has worked very hard in the last few weeks on his level of fitness and he is looking the real deal now. He played in Dublin on Monday night and played very well. In the last couple of days in training he has looked very good and he is definitely in contention now." Meanwhile, midfielder Beram Kayal is confident Celtic will strike another blow towards winning the SPL when Rangers visit on 20 February. He said: "I have played against Rangers in two derbies and one game we won, one game we drew and the next game - we win. Why? I say that because Celtic want to win every game. I don't want to speak any more about the Rangers games because all my focus is on Celtic, but we want to win every game. Don't forget it is a new team, new players, and at the start of the season we wanted to gel but now we feel better and more connected."
