Neil Lennon says Celtic have been 'soul-searching' over poor form

Celtic manager Neil Lennon says his players have been "soul-searching" over their poor start to the season but believes he saw encouraging signs in the Europa League defeat to AC Milan.

Lennon's side, who were already eliminated from the competition ahead of kick-off on Thursday, led 2-0 at the San Siro before succumbing to a 4-2 defeat against the current Serie A leaders.

They have now lost three consecutive games for the first time in 13 years and have won just two of their last 11 matches in all competitions.

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However, Lennon believes his players deserved more from their trip to Italy and has challenged them to return to winning ways when they host St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

"More than ever, players have to motivate themselves," said Lennon.

"We do our best as a backroom team to motivate the players as best we can. There has been a lot of support from me and a lot of soul-searching from themselves over the last couple of days.

"I thought they were tremendous tonight. I got the response, I didn't get the result, but I certainly got the response I was looking for."

Lennon added: "If the performances reach the level that they reached tonight… which is a psychological thing because they're playing at the San Siro, they go out there and it's inspiring them.

"We have to be inspired by our home stadium now. Even without the supporters, if we play as strongly as we did tonight we'll be fine."

Celtic could trail rivals Rangers by 14 points in the Premiership table if Steven Gerrard's side beat Ross County in the early kick-off on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

When asked if his side now have no margin for error, Lennon said: "It depends on how the other results go but from our point of view, we want to win the games and get back on a run.

"I saw plenty of signs tonight that we're more than capable of that, which pleases me."

Lennon is wary of the threat posed by St Johnstone, who are unbeaten in their last four matches in all competitions.

"They're on a decent run themselves," he said. "Callum (Davidson) has come in off the back of Tommy (Wright) being there for so long but he knows the club inside out, knows the players inside out.

"They are always stodgy opposition to play against and they may feel that we're a little bit vulnerable at the minute ourselves.

"It doesn't matter who we're playing, it's important we try and end this run of draws and defeats as quickly as possible."

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