Neil Lennon tore into his Celtic players after their shock 3-2 defeat to St. Mirren in the Scottish Communities League Cup semifinal defeat at Hampden Park.
St. Mirren had failed to take a point or even score a goal in their eight previous games against the Scottish champions, but were full value for this win.
As hopes of a domestic treble collapsed, a fuming Lennon said, “I am bitterly disappointed with that performance.
“It was soulless, it lacked intensity, desire and will to win, all the attributes this team has shown over the last six to nine months.
“That was an impersonation of a team that I know. There is not one player, maybe with the exception of Hooper, that would get pass marks today.
“There was a lack of discipline in our shape and play. I thought we were defensively awful, the decision making was poor and there was a lack of quality in the final third.
“Some of them behaved like spoiled kids out there. The treble is gone, we have only ourselves to blame. The criticism is going to come our way and rightly so.
“Hampden seems to be a bogey ground, but to be fair that’s the worst we have played here.
“I can take losing to Kilmarnock in the final and in the semifinal last year against Hearts because our performances were decent, but that was awful today from what I perceive to be top-class players.
“But maybe I have got it wrong and maybe I have to look at this week and change things, I don’t know.
“I’d like to congratulate Danny Lennon and his St. Mirren team, he is a good guy in the game.
“I don’t want to take anything away from them, but I cannot be too enthusiastic about our performance.”
Charlie Mulgrew missed a penalty early in the second half as things went from bad to worse for Celtic.
Lennon added, “I am sick of us missing penalties. I am sick of it.
“For some reason Charlie decided to side-foot it when I wanted him to put his laces through it.
“Charlie Mulgrew is the best dead-ball player I’ve seen for a long, long time, certainly in Scotland, and he is one of the best in Britain.
“I was amazed he side-footed it. I thought he would have whipped it or put a bit of power in it. Again, we seem to change our mentality when it comes to penalties.
“I don’t know how many we have missed in my time as manager. I am not pointing the finger at Charlie because there was still a long way to go in the game.
“That was a game-changer, but our reaction was poor from the second and third goals onwards. We seemed to lose our discipline a little bit and it is not like us.”
Meanwhile, Celtic striker Mo Bangura has joined Elfsborg on loan for the 2013 Swedish season.
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