I am not sure if Neil Lennon has been hit on the head recently but something must have happened as he has said he would not swap positions with Ally McCoist despite trailing Rangers by four points at the top of the SPL. The Celtic manager has been under fire after letting Rangers win 4-2 after they went in at half-time in a losing position. Sunday's result came just days after Celtic lost their first Europa League group game to Atletico Madrid in Spain. However, the pressure spotlight turned back on Rangers manager McCoist, whose side had been knocked out of both the Champions League and Europa League in the qualifiers, after Wednesday's exit to First Division side Falkirk in the League Cup third round. Lennon guided his side to a quarter-final place with a 2-0 win at Ross County.
Ahead of Saturday's SPL clash with Inverness at Parkhead, Lennon,was asked if he felt Celtic are in a better position than Rangers. He said: "It's difficult to say. I would rather be in front in the league and four points is four points. It is too early to say what position in comparison we are to Rangers, all I know is that we have got important league games coming up before the international break and we would like to win them all."
But when asked directly if he would swap positions with Rangers, Lennon said: "No - because we are in Europe and all the (domestic) competitions, and that's where you want to be at the minute. The game changes very, very quickly. While you are always disappointed to lose a derby game, you have to keep on a level. There is no doubt that the lows are lower than the highs are high and we had a job to do on Wednesday (at Ross County) but we came through it okay. But we are still chasing in the league and the league is the priority and tomorrow is a very important game."
Lennon was dismayed to discover the win in Dingwall had come at a cost to Wilson who is to have a scan on Friday. The Celtic manager has defenders Cha Du-ri (hamstring) and Emilio Izaguirre (broken ankle) out long term, with captain Scott Brown struggling with an ankle injury which keeps him out against Inverness and with little chance of playing against Udinese at Parkhead in the Europa League on Thursday. With midfielder Kris Commons out with a groin injury and Charlie Mulgrew suspended after being sent off last week, the Hoops squad is stretched despite Georgios Samaras (ribs), Mark Wilson (knee) and Paddy McCourt (calf) recovering from their respective injuries. Lennon said: "Kelvin Wilson will be out, he is having a scan today. We don't know how long he is going to be out for until we get the results of the scan but it looks like he has a slight tear in the Achilles. It depends on the significance of the tear, we are hoping that it will be at best two to three weeks, it could be four to six weeks but we won't know the extent of it until the scan comes through. Of course Charlie is suspended. He has been playing very well and losing him is a blow. So we will have to manoeuvre the back four which isn't ideal but we have good experienced players in those positions and I expect them to deal with it tomorrow."