Martin O'Neill addresses Celtic player mutiny head on as pressure mounts again

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Tom Weber | Writer

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has dismissed suggestions of a player mutiny despite recent complaints from high-profile stars.

The Parkhead club are never too far away from a real - or imagined - crisis. Given Celtic's resources and pedigree, there is an expectation that every match must end in victory. So when results don't go their way, trouble brews.

This is true even when the Hoops are comfortably top of the Premiership, as they are right now. Celtic are four points clear of Rangers and have only dropped points twice in the league so far.

However, the bigger picture is important, too. Celtic have been embarrassing in the Europa League, losing all three of their games. They are only in Europe's secondary competition because they couldn't see out a 3-0 lead against Austrian side LASK in Champions League qualifying.

In that context, every dropped point in the Premiership takes on added significance, and the fallout from Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Dundee United has been considerable.

McGregor echoes Carter-Vickers criticism

Speaking after the match, captain Callum McGregor bemoaned a lack of consistency and clarity in Celtic's approach to their matches, which often leaves them having to be bailed out by the superior quality of individuals.

"It’s not really having a nailed-on profile for each of the positions. The players behave like a winger, or they behave like a striker. You can get away with it for a few games, but if it’s a striker playing as a winger, you are going to get that behaviour a lot of the time," he said.

"You’ve got enough quality so you can score goals and get away with it. But we have to try to get the team functioning the way it should. Then that will alleviate all the other problems that we are encountering, where it becomes a bit like basketball.

"You lose control and spend the next 15 minutes trying to get possession back. You waste energy at that point, and then when you need to get a goal, you are coming down as opposed to up the way."

This isn't the first time a player has criticised a lack of stylistic and tactical cohesion. Last month, when manager O'Neill was under immense pressure after losing three games in a week, Cameron Carter-Vickers called Celtic's play "too random."

The American asked for more "consistency of messaging, consistency of ideas, consistency of effort," which appeared to be a clear dig at the veteran manager, whose tactical mettle has increasingly come under scrutiny.

O'Neill: There's no dressing room revolt

Questions are being raised as to whether O'Neill was right to remain in charge of Celtic after his successful interim spells last season, and there are uncanny parallels to the situation Michael Carrick finds himself in at Man Utd.

The 45-year-old has also had to deal with players publicly criticising his tactical ideas and the running of the club. He has been given a stay of execution, but a sacking looks inevitable.

Could the same fate befall O'Neill? Time will tell, but the 74-year-old insists that there is no dressing room revolt at Celtic. "I don’t agree at all, not at all. Absolutely not," he said ahead of Sunday's match away at Falkirk.

O'Neill added that he is not worried about the negativity and tried to put things into perspective: "Seriously, a way back, 20-odd years ago, I had the likes of Larsson, Sutton, Lennon, Petrov and Lambert - if we weren't a goal in front after 25 minutes, there would be a bit of moaning going on."

However, O'Neill was unable to hide his annoyance with the media. "I am domestically pleased with where we are, considering we've had some players coming in very late on - that’s fine, that's my problem - and we're trying to gel together," the manager stated.

"We're trying to make that ground. Are we complete? No, we're not. But we're still there. I come in here every single week, and I'm most of the time pretty buoyed by things, and then by the time I finish out this meeting I'm not.

"Don't try and throw a lot of divides in. At the end of the day, we're doing fine. A lot of lads here that we have didn't even do pre-season with us. A number of players came in quite late on, so it will take time for us. We need to hang in there, and at this minute I think we're hanging in."

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