Beram Kayal enjoys the feeling manager Neil Lennon has engendered about the club. The first team squad is made up mainly of players brought to the club by Lennon and his enthusiasm and encouragement has made the players feel they have been together for years. Since taking charge of the team on a permanent basis last summer, Lennon has signed 13 of the first-team squad who are sitting at the top of the SPL. Two of 13 , Gary Hooper and Kris Commons, were on hand to score the goals that earned Celtic a welcome 3-0 win over their nearest rivals, Rangers, in a one-sided Old Firm derby at Parkhead on Sunday. The win moved Celtic eight points clear at the top of the table and extended their impressive attacking form to 24 goals in eight games. Kayal arrived from Maccabi Haifa in July but a groin operation saw him sidelined for much of the first half of the season. But he bounced back in style, winning the SPL player of the month award for January, and he himself looks like he has never played anywhere else. He credits Lennon for instilling the team ethic into the squad.
Kayal said: "He makes us all feel special, and we all try 100% for him. At the beginning of the season the majority were new players. A great credit must go to the manager for putting us all together and make us feel we have been playing together for years. Every day, every game, everyone here wants to play better and we try every game to continue this month because last month everyone played very well."
Kayal will have to sit out Sunday's trip to Motherwell on Sunday thanks to suspension. That game could see Celtic extend their lead to 11 points, although Rangers host St Johnstone hours later. Rangers still have two games in hand so Kayal insists Celtic are not getting carried away despite the emphatic win. The Israel international said: "We're not favourites. All the focus for everyone here is to try to play better in every game. I am very happy because we won but the next game on Sunday is not against Rangers."
Beram Kayal enjoys the feeling manager Neil Lennon has engendered about the club. The first team squad is made up mainly of players brought to the club by Lennon and his enthusiasm and encouragement has made the players feel they have been together for years. Since taking charge of the team on a permanent basis last summer, Lennon has signed 13 of the first-team squad who are sitting at the top of the SPL. Two of 13 , Gary Hooper and Kris Commons, were on hand to score the goals that earned Celtic a welcome 3-0 win over their nearest rivals, Rangers, in a one-sided Old Firm derby at Parkhead on Sunday. The win moved Celtic eight points clear at the top of the table and extended their impressive attacking form to 24 goals in eight games. Kayal arrived from Maccabi Haifa in July but a groin operation saw him sidelined for much of the first half of the season. But he bounced back in style, winning the SPL player of the month award for January, and he himself looks like he has never played anywhere else. He credits Lennon for instilling the team ethic into the squad.