NEIL LENNON believed he was giving Georgios Samaras, Kris Commons and James Forrest a confidence boost when, en route to Amsterdam, he named them as the trio who could pick apart Ajax.

In hindsight, the Celtic boss admits it was, in fact, "The kiss of death," as not one of them made any kind of significant contribution.

Lesson learned, and fingers burned, Lennon will be much more careful ahead of tomorrow's tie against AC Milan.

While he will still rely heavily on certain individuals, he will identify them in the privacy of the dressing room.

In public, it will be the collective which he emphasises, underlining how it is vital everyone functions at maximum capacity if the Italians are to be defeated.

Only when the dust has settled on matchday five will Lennon alight on individual performances, and he hopes there will be a few upon which to focus plenty of positives.

The Hoops boss saw enough in Saturday's hard-fought 3-1 victory over Aberdeen - a double from Commons and a first for the club from Derk Boerrigter extending their unbeaten SPFL Premiership run to 13 games - to believe his men are in the right frame of mind to meet tomorrow's massive challenge head-on.

"Saturday will have done them the world of good," reflected Lennon as he prepared to inform his players what the game plan will be against Milan.

"It will have done Kris good. I know he got his two goals, but he needed that game because he has not played since Amsterdam.

"Sami has had a lot of games, including two play-offs with Greece. But he wanted to play on Saturday, and I'm glad he did.

"It can be better, we know that. And it will get better as the season goes on. We are asking a lot of the players at this minute."

The scheduling of very important games dictates Lennon must put these demands on his men.

"It is a big week, with the Hearts cup-tie coming up after the Milan match, and I'll need to use the squad," agreed Lennon. "I will need big players to play."

Lennon is sure his counterpart at Milan, Massimo Allegri, will be delivering a similar mantra to his under-pressure stars who, on Saturday, could only draw 1-1 with a Genoa side reduced to 10 men for more than an hour in the simmering San Siro.

Not even a very early goal from Kaka could secure their first win in seven games.

And, with a growing injury list, the Milan side which arrives in Glasgow today will be hurting.

"We didn't have anyone there, but we did have the game covered," said Lennon. "They are big-game players in the Milan side. Once the Champions League groups are finished, from December to February I think you will see a big change in their results.

"It was the same here last year when we went on our unbeaten league run and I'm hoping that this will be the springboard for us to do really well domestically.

"However, we have still got Milan and Barcelona to negotiate. Once we get those ties out of the way, I know we've got a lot of games, but it will be a clear run for some of them.

"We'll be able to work with the players during the week as well, which will help their progress."

While Lennon is confident Milan will improve, he is convinced Celtic will, too.

He reminds everyone they are still a team in transition after some of last season's heroes from the run to the last 16 moved on.

Of those who replaced them, Virgil van Dijk is head and shoulders the most impressive.

From his chats with the central defender, the manager knows it has hurt the 22-year-old that he is still being overlooked by Dutch national boss, Louis van Gaal.

Lennon can only encourage his rising star to keep doing what he is doing and said: "He was brilliant on Saturday. Sensational.

"Not only does he make a contribution defensively, he goes forward and wins the header which leads to our second goal. That was a big moment in the game.

"Virgil has made huge strides in his career already this season. And, if he keeps going like that, it will be very difficult for him not to be picked for Holland."

Is van Dijk one of those Lennon is thinking about when he insists his side will improve this season?

"To be fair, I'm not sure he can get much better than where he is at the minute," was the reply. "I'm looking at the likes of Derk Boerrigter and Teemu Pukki getting up a head of steam.

"Then there's Forrest, if he can get a clear run of games. And Commons, if he can get a clear run of games. They will have a freshness about them because they have played a huge amount of games already."

With many more to come, hopefully, including a clutch in the Champions League.

But Lennon accepts that, for this to happen, against Milan, his side will have to deal much better with high balls into the area.

It was a tactic which gifted Aberdeen numerous scoring opportunities, Niall McGinn taking one when a corner was not dealt with properly on the stroke of half-time.

"Defending throw-ins and corners into the box has not normally been an issue for us," said Lennon.

"I just think it has been a little bit of laziness in terms of really wanting to go and defend properly.

"That is something we talked about after Saturday's game, but we are not going to dwell on it. It's people taking responsibility.

"But that's the one criticism I had of the team on Saturday.

"It can be frustrating when teams are set up to make it very difficult for you. I know from my own experience, when we have done that in the Champions League, it can make it very difficult for the opposition.

"But, we're finding ways to deal with it, and it was a 14-man game against Aberdeen, because the subs did their bit."