Celtic players will have to get over their travel aches and pains by the time they take to the Pittodrie pitch at 12:00 today after the international midweek game. Manager Neil Lennon is unhappy that the game was scheduled for an early kick-off in view of his international players having been playing all over the world. With first team players with homelands in Asia and South America, some key players are could to be missing from the team sheet pinned up in the away dressing room. Lennon fully expects to be without South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-yueng, Honduras left-back Emilio Izaguirre and Mexico's Efrain Juarez who had not reported back when the Celtic manager met the media yesterday. Lennon used the occasion of picking up his Premier League manager of the month award for February, to make sure the relevant people were aware of his gripe. Lennon said: "With the international boys being away, the amount of travelling they have done and the fact that it's a 12 o'clock kick-off in Aberdeen, which I am really not happy about, there will be a few changes from last week for tomorrow's game. The majority of them are back but I haven't see Efrain Juarez or Emilio, they are still making their way back and will be very doubtful for tomorrow. Ki Sung-yueng is still making his way back or else he might still be in South Korea. There is no point in rushing him back because he probably wouldn't have made it back in time anyway. I am all for internationals and all for friendlies. My beef is with the scheduling of this game tomorrow. If it had been three o'clock or on Sunday, it might have bought us a bit more time to get the players back and have ample time for them to recover. As it is, it is impossible for some of them to do that with the amount of travelling they have had. Again, it is also difficult for our supporters to get up there for 12 o'clock. The most important people in football at the minute, the players and fans, they are going to suffer the most. But I don't do the scheduling and we have to get on with it the best we can." Celtic are looking to extend their 14 game winning run after six clean sheets during February helped Lennon to the monthly award. The former Celtic captain said: "It means a helluva lot but it is just down to the players who have performed magnificently and the consistency has been fantastic. It is a great achievement to go through the month without conceding a goal so we have moved in the right direction again, which is pleasing. We don't want them to take their foot off the pedal. We try to keep them as motivated as possible. We have a huge month which will define the season. Obviously it starts tomorrow against Aberdeen who are going very well. It is going to be very difficult as it always is at Pittodrie."
Source: FOOTYMAD
