Martin O’Neill Questions Celtic Starting XI After Ibrox Defeat

Martin O’Neill has admitted he will review his own team selection after Celtic’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

The Celtic manager was asked after the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final whether, with hindsight, he felt he had got the starting XI right for the occasion.

His answer was telling.

He said: (BBC Sport Scotland), “I think you always feel, if you’ve been beaten in a game, you always think about selection.

“I’ll think about my own part in proceedings first of all and then we’ll see.”

It was a candid response after an afternoon where Celtic never really found the right balance.

O’Neill went into the match with several players facing this fixture and this atmosphere for the first time, and Celtic struggled to settle into the game.

Rangers lined up differently from what many might have expected, with James Penrice moving into midfield and the home side defending with a back three at times.

O’Neill, though, pushed back on the suggestion that Rangers had caught Celtic by surprise tactically.

Asked whether he expected Rangers to approach the game in the way they did, he said: “No, not on the way they did.

“Rangers, everything that Rangers did, I expected them to do, really, as simple as that there.

“Whatever way Rangers set up, they’re not going to give me a call and say that this is what we’re going to do.

“At the end of the day, we have to try and set up to counteract that.”

That puts even more focus on Celtic’s own setup.

Rangers’ shape caused problems from early on, particularly in the middle of the park, where Celtic struggled to get any real control.

O’Neill also revealed that part of his thinking before kick-off was to give some of his players first-hand experience of the Ibrox environment.

“I wanted people to experience this atmosphere and they certainly did that today.”

There was a sense that O’Neill wanted some of his newer players to feel the pace and pressure that comes with this fixture rather than shielding them from it.

The problem was that Celtic never managed to get comfortable.

Rangers pressed high and forced mistakes, while O’Neill’s side found it difficult to work their way through the home midfield.

After a defeat like this, the team selection was always going to be questioned.

O’Neill did not try to avoid that conversation, but he was equally clear that Rangers’ tactical approach was not some great surprise.

With the same two sides meeting again at Celtic Park next weekend, the changes O’Neill makes to his own setup will now be watched closely.