The Hoops fans booed when Anthony Stokes and not Samaras was replaced by Shaun Maloney in the second half of their Europa League play-off and then cheered when the Greece international's number was held up to allow Paddy McCourt to come on with minutes remaining.
Asked if he understood the supporters' frustrations, the Celtic boss said: "I understand the frustration at times but he brings a lot to the team.
"He did a good job at set-pieces.
"He missed some decent chances and he knows himself that he can play better.
"But I think he gets a lot of criticism that is sometimes unwarranted."
Lennon is still confident of progressing through to the group stages.
He said: "I feel we have enough in the team to score goal. I was delighted with the clean sheet and the tie is far from over.
"But it was disappointing. We had enough chances in the second half to win it.
"We needed better quality in the final third.
"We snatched at things and our decision-making wasn't as good as it should have been.
"But we have a clean sheet and I am hoping that we have more personnel for next week."
In the end, Celtic found goalkeeper Andris Vanins just too formidable a barrier.
Sion's inspired keeper had good saves from Charlie Mulgrew, Kris Commons and substitute Maloney to keep the tie in the balance.
Sion coach Laurent Roussey was pleased with his players for sticking to his game-plan but does not believe the tie has necessarily swung in their favour.
"Not at all," he said. "It was a 0-0 draw, so it is 50-50 although there is always a bit of a home advantage if it goes to extra time."
The Frenchman insists he did not expect better from Celtic.
"Not really," he said. "We looked at them before the game, we knew we had to be organised and we were.
"It was very physical and intense game, not what we are used to in Swiss league.
"But we played the way I wanted them to, we kept the ball.
"I think we played better as the match went on and I felt Celtic were under pressure near the end.
"So I am satisfied with the draw and looking forward to next week."
No comments:
Post a Comment