Neil Lennon states fact about Rangers as Celtic hero offers no-nonsense defence of Brendan Rodgers

Neil Lennon understands why Brendan Rodgers feels he is under siege by some parties outside of Celtic.

In the aftermath of Sunday's 2-0 win away to St Mirren in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup, Rodgers hit back at criticism of his side's recent performances by insisting that a negative narrative has been spun on the Parkhead club from elsewhere, in spite of the frustrations from large sections of the Hoops support levelled at the board for their lack of activity in the January transfer window.

But former Celtic boss Lennon has leapt to the defence of the 51-year-old and suggests things are not as bad as they are made out to be – and, crucially, Rangers are in no better shape. Speaking on the PLZ Football Show, Lennon also agreed with Rodgers that a narrative is being created despite the similar pattern of results compared to Philippe Clement's Rangers. He said: "Everyone is saying how Rangers are grinding out results but Celtic have won eight and drew one of their last nine games.

"That's pretty impressive, but they are the ones who are getting all the criticism. Brendan is quite rightly getting criticised because the performances aren't at the level that we expect them to be.

"However this is a new team with a new coach and they are still winning games. But the narrative is that 'Celtic are struggling and Rangers are doing really well'. You can understand why Brendan has got a bit spiky about it. The narrative is that everything is great on one side of the fence but not the other, even though the results have been the same.

"Celtic went out of Europe in early December but we are nine games on from that where he has won eight and draw one. The football has not been exhilarating but they are getting the job done. They