The post match comments of Martin O’Neill at Ibrox were almost as worrying as the performance of his Celtic team at Ibrox on Sunday.
After his performance against St Johnstone almost every Celtic fan was sure Sebastian Tounekti wouldn’t star at Ibrox. He did.
That was the opening alarm call, delivered at 10.45 am with Haissem Hassan listed as a substitute.
The front six showed just one change from the team that collapsed in LASK. No one thinks that Tounekti for Yang Hyun-jun is an improvement.
Thankfully O’Neill left out the After Dinner gags from his Ibrox post mortems.
Following the defeat the Celtic boss was interviewed by Premier Sports, BBC Scotland, Celtic TV and a general media conference.
His comments were alarming on a number of issues.
Justifying the selection of Sam Johnstone over Vil Sinisalo O’Neill said ‘I want people to experience these games, because what other way am I going to learn about what people can or cannot do?’.
Ibrox isn’t the place that you chose to learn about players signed 10 days earlier.
The real reason was that O’Neill will always select someone, anyone from the EPL over someone that has performed well in three previous Ibrox appearances.
If Johnstone had anything about him an EPL club would have signed him on loan as back-up.
At Ibrox he set the tone with a rabbit in headlines performance. In the first half he twice gave possession away with the ball at his feet. When he flapped at a cross he needed Liam Scales to bail him out with a goal-line clearance.
NO LOGIC IN THE POST MATCH O’NEILL COMMENTS
The wake up call should have been LASK. Our defence has looked suspect all season and thankfully we’ve only been punished twice for it so far. His team selection was completely wrong today and I’ve no idea what our style is meant to be. Huge pressure for a result next week now.
— 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝕷𝖆𝖘𝖙𝕽𝖊𝖇𝖊𝖑 (@cfc1888_) September 13, 2026
If defeat at Ibrox is a wake up call what were the coaching team doing all week?
Celtic went to Ibrox twice in March without collapsing.
Ibrox isn’t the place to experiment with goalkeepers or to look for Tounekti to rediscover his Ruby Park form.
O’Neill, Shaun Maloney and Stephen McManus have been going to Ibrox on and off for over 20 years.
Every player going out onto the park should have known exactly what to expect and what was expected of them.
Clearly the players were under prepared. That falls entirely on the manager.
He loves recalling fantastic stories from the past, it seems that he was unable to prepare his players to face a team that has already lost cup ties to Jagielonia and Jablonec.
Well, a lot of boys have, you know, Kieran Tierney and Callum, people like this here, and James Forrest, they’ve all won here when there’s been big crowds. And I think they’ve won.
Was there anybody here when Covid set in? No? So they’ve played here before, so that I don’t know. But certainly for some of the younger and the newer lads, it’s an experience that I don’t think they’ll forget.
ANALYSIS:
Covid had nothing to do with the defeat. Not a thing. Celtic played three times at Ibrox with no fans inside and lost all three. There is no comparison to this defeat.
Post Covid there has been 0, 800, 2,500 and 8,000 Celtic fans at Ibrox. Results have been mixed. The home hostility has been the same throughout. This time there were no glass bottles or missiles thrown at Celtic players. No mystery over broken glass in the penalty are during the half-time break.
O’Neill chose a diversion, to deflect from a question that he was uncomfortable answering.
THE SAM JOHNSTONE DECISION
QUESTION: Martin, Sam Johnstone wasn’t the only Celtic player that found it difficult today but why did you opt for him ?
O’NEILL:
I want people to experience these games, because what other way am I going to learn about what people can or cannot do? What I don’t want to do is just put people in so that I can learn something from it. The main object is obviously to try and win, and it’s a fine balancing act from me.
ANALYSIS:
Where do you start? O’Neill loves a contradiction, here he excelled.
Fixtures at Ibrox aren’t where you want people to ‘experience these games’. They are for the tried and tested and in this case that was Sinisalo, not the fourth choice at Wolves a fortnight ago.
You learn about players before you sign them. Watching recent footage if you can’t get there in person, not the highlights reel from five years ago.
Johnstone and others can be tried out in other fixtures. Not cup ties at Ibrox. Why didn’t O’Neill throw in Joel van den Berg today? A way to learn what people can or cannot do?
It isn’t a fine balancing act. Ibrox is a fixture that Celtic go to win, or avoid defeat in. It isn’t a learning option. There are very few fixtures that you can decide to learn about players in. At Celtic you get pitched in, sink or swim.
O’NEILL CHOOSES BETWEEN TOUNEKTI, HASSAN AND FORREST
QUESTION: What was behind the decision to start with Sebastian Tounekti on the left? What was your thinking there?
O’NEILL:
Young Hassan had an overnight problem, and he didn’t get much sleep in all honesty, so it was just a matter of not starting him because of that. That’s the reason, really.
ANALYSIS
So Hassan wasn’t ok for 12 noon but fine to come on at 1pm? And it still isn’t an explanation for playing Tounekti. James Forrest on the left or a 4-4-2 would have been more logical than selecting a left-winger whose best three matches for Celtic have all been on the plastic of Rugby Park.
In his BBC Scotland interview O’Neill came up with this comment:
Everything Rangers did I expected them to do. Whatever way Rangers set up, they’re not going to give me a call and say what they’re going to do so we had to counter that.
ANALYSIS
Virtually nothing was done to counter their play despite apparently doing what was expected.
Perhaps O’Neill was venturing into his Q and A mode with the ‘they’re not going to give me a call’ routine. No Celtic fan is laughing.
Managers are paid to formulate winning tactics. And to react to ploys from opponents when they are on top, dominating play, getting the upper hand.
Whatever the occasion, whoever are the opponents Celtic play 4-3-3. Since Jota was sold in 2023 Celtic have been effectively down to one winger. To play an effective 4-3-3 you need four good wingers, to vary the tactics and make effective substitutions. Nicolas Kuhn briefly became a second winger, on form the upturn in results were obvious.
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