Scotland manager Gordon Strachan the 'best man for job' - Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon believes the Scottish media and public "is defeatist at times"

Hibernian boss Neil Lennon has followed the lead of other managers in Scotland by backing national boss Gordon Strachan.

Strachan has decided to stay on for next month's game against England despite a poor start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.

"I think he is the best man for the job," Lennon said. "They have had one win, one defeat and one draw.

"They are three points off the top of the table. It's far from over."

While noting that Scotland need to get something from the Wembley fixture on 11 November, Lennon believes Strachan's side are capable of achieving a positive result.

"But the players have to raise their game," he said. "They were disappointing in Slovakia but in the other performances, they were pretty unlucky not to beat Lithuania and they were pretty impressive in the second half against Malta."

Lennon (right) started his coaching career at Celtic during Strachan's time as manager

Lennon, who like Strachan won three Scottish top-flight titles in his four full seasons in charge of Celtic, believes the media and public are overly critical when it comes to the Scotland team.

The Northern Irishman's current side have also come in for flak of late, having won their first five Championship games but have failed to win any of their last three in the league and also been knocked out of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

"What we do in modern-day football is 'you are only as good as your last game'. We analyse it to death," said Lennon, who takes Hibs - one point off the top of the Championship - to fourth-placed Raith Rovers on Saturday.

"We are defeatist at times with the attitude we have and if you step back in the cold light of day, which I have done here [at Hibernian], I don't think there is a lot wrong here and I don't think there is a lot wrong with the Scotland team either.

"Do we expect too much? Sometimes I think yes. Is there room for improvement? Yes, no question. Are Scotland on a par with the likes of Wales and Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland even? Yes they are. But it's time the players started showing that.

"The mentality I don't think is that bad. I think they have got really good players at times, honestly I do. We are talking about one poor performance in maybe 15 or 20 games so I don't think we should push the panic button just yet."