Watch: Martin O’Neill’s Spiky Response to Celtic Mentality Question

Martin O’Neill pushed back strongly on suggestions that mentality was the main reason behind Celtic’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

The Hoops were second best for much of the afternoon and struggled to impose themselves in possession, but O’Neill was reluctant to reduce the performance to a question of attitude.

Asked about Celtic’s mentality in big matches, the manager pointed instead to the amount of possession his side gave away cheaply.

🍀 @CelticFC boss Martin O’Neill reflects on today’s 3-0 loss at Ibrox

“In the end, we were well beaten. Big lesson to be learned.” 🗣️#PremierSportsCup pic.twitter.com/SXOFg4LQ2s

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 13, 2026

He said: (Premier Sports), “You keep talking about mentality. I have to analyse it and see whether it was mentality or not. I don’t know.

“We misplaced a lot of passes today when we were in really good possession so that doesn’t help – so that’s a technical difficulty in that aspect, that’s not mentality.

“What happens is that when you play enough bad passes, then mentality comes in.”

O’Neill’s point was that Celtic’s problems started with basic mistakes on the ball.

They regularly found themselves in decent positions before giving possession back to Rangers, allowing the home side to build momentum and keep Celtic on the back foot.

The discussion then moved towards expectations in the bigger games, with O’Neill also questioning the suggestion that Celtic should simply be expected to win at Ibrox.

He said: “I don’t understand why you would anticipate a victory.

“We are coming to Ibrox, this is a pretty difficult place to come without one fan in the building. They won’t have fans in next Sunday so let’s see how we go.”

O’Neill then drew on his first spell as Celtic manager to make the point that one heavy derby defeat does not necessarily define what follows.

“I came here 26 years ago in November time and got mauled 5-1. We had a really good side and had beaten Rangers 6-2 a couple of months earlier and never lost another league game after that.

“So we have to learn from these things. I am not saying that’s going to happen, far from it as it’s too difficult.

“But at the end of the day we have got to learn from this and that’s the biggest thing. If we can learn, then we can do something about it.”

Celtic now have to respond quickly.

They face Ferencváros at Celtic Park in midweek before Rangers arrive next Sunday, giving O’Neill and his players an immediate chance to show they have taken something from a damaging afternoon at Ibrox.