Martin O’Neill was primed and in full deflection mode following Celtic’s Europa League defeat to Celta Vigo.
On Friday Sky Sports, broadcasting Sunday’s match at Hibs were given access to the Celtic boss. Even fawning super-fan Gerry McCulloch was blanked.
Most managers like to throw in one favourable fact to deflect from their failings.
O’Neill knows the growing hostility that he faces from Celtic fans. Twelve months on the novelty of having the veteran in the dug-out has worn off. For many fans O’Neill is the human shield as the well remunerated executives hide from scrutiny.
During the course of a six minute interview O’Neill pulled out three deflectors to take attention away from his and his teams failings in Europe.
For good measure he smiled when claiming that he thinks Celtic will advance in the Europa League.
It seems like losing your first three matches and qualifying in 24th place would be something to celebrate. Never has the bar been lower for Celtic in European football.
@ScotlandSky 5 losses in the last 7 games but Martin is the darling of the media.
Celtic are a very poor side, poorly Managed with about 8 good players propped up by others in the squad that are League One standard.
MON should do the decent thing and step aside; beating Hibs is a formality.— Doug Smith (@Skyseller67) October 23, 2026
O’NEILL APPLIES THE COMFORT BLANKET OF DEFLECTION
2 minutes 20 seconds: “Talking about the home game last night, I thought that the atmosphere was terrific, I thought that the crowd was fantastic. I think that we had the biggest crowd in the UEFA Cup, er the Europa League.”
Did O’Neill spend Friday morning going through attendances at 18 matches or was he fed that line with the bonus of taking a dig at the absent Green Brigade?
Gordon Duncan then asked about the frequency of Celtic losing goals quickly in succession in European matches.
Flying off at a tangent O’Neill said: “Sometimes I think, that if it happens more often than not, then, perhaps there maybe is something to think about. If it’s not something that I feel is a recurring theme, particularly in the time I’ve been managing, I don’t. I wouldn’t probably accept that argument.”
Away to LASK Celtic lost goals in the 48th and 58th minutes. At home to Ferencvaros the Hungarians scored in the 45th and 47th minutes. Celta Vigo scored in the 68th and 71st minutes. They all look like clusters, heads go down, more goals accepted as inevitable.
4 minutes 50 seconds: “Funnily enough, somebody pointed it out to me this morning that after 9 games last season, Celtic Football Club had I think 17 points and I think that Hearts had 24 or 25. Now we are actually in the lead at this minute.”
European football and not Hearts will always be the benchmark for Celtic. Last season after three Europa League matches Celtic had four points. That wasn’t good enough either.
The uncomfortable FACTS! that no-one inside Celtic will mention to O’Neill are-
Fixed the stats.
Added in the missing games . https://t.co/9FDRhWBdQv— Rich (@Rich322020) October 23, 2026
@BrennanMatin I agree . There needs to be major changes.
Seen a post somewhere that mckenna and desmond are in talks …. I have doubts about that though.
This team just needs a decent bit of structure and coaching and theyll be flying
— Rich (@Rich322020) October 23, 2026
AGAINST CELTIC IT IS SHOOTY IN TIME
It is easy for some geeks to go overboard on the most contrived stats and interpret too much into them.
Shots are easier to comprehend and are very real.
The issue really came to light in the League Cup tie at Tannadice when Dundee United hit the woodwork five times.
The stats in both matches against LASK were ridiculous, Celtic’s luck ran out in Austria.
Even Derek McInnes worked out what to do. Attack Celtic down the flanks, cut the ball back to the D and have your midfielders ready to shoot at goal. The Law of Averages allowed a nonentity like Dan Neil to become a hero over 90 minutes.
Those issues have been raised repeatedly on line. Over the last week Hearts and Celta Vigo have scored from similar positions. In both of those matches, and the vast majority this season the Celtic midfield has consisted of Callum McGregor, Mika Baur and Ben Nygren.
Individually they are all good midfielders, as a unit they just don’t work together.
In Scotland the goals and attacking contributions of Nygren will swamp opponents. Streetwise and competent European opponents take advantage of the weaknesses in the Celtic midfield.
Not much is likely to be learned from the matches against Hibs, Dundee United and Falkirk. After that comes Besiktas.
O’Neill can praise the fans and the atmosphere, what happens on the park is all that matters.
With seven points from three matches Beskitas will be expecting to follow Roma, Stuttgart, Ferencvaros and Celta Vigo at European football favourite tourist attraction.
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1 Comment
by Stevie S
Think its becoming apparent that all the social media attacks on Celtic must come from supporters of other teams they certainly cant come from Celtic supporters… My first match on my own with ma pals was when we got pumped 4-1 by Thistle in the cup final…. stayed to the end to support my team … my Da had made that very clear that no matter what we are Celtic supporters and we back our team. Now I can be as angry when I see Derrmot or his son abusing our club and behaving as if they own it- the rest of the Board must be cap doffers ..that said with the way social media is today im not sure I would want to sit on any Board.. being abused constantly by people that could not run a raffle. Also back off on MON any manager deserves at least 2 windows … ooopppsss forgeting that its rangers men running these sites