NafisaThe post-match fallout from Celtic’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers has taken another turn, with Martin O’Neill delivering a pointed message to his players after captain Callum McGregor’s brutally honest assessment of the Ibrox collapse.
McGregor did not hide from the scale of Celtic’s performance, admitting afterwards that his side had looked like “a team of individuals” rather than a functioning unit. He also questioned their work rate, ability to impose themselves and response once Rangers took control.
Now O’Neill has responded with a message of his own — and while he did not directly name McGregor or any individual player, his comments make it clear that the Celtic manager believes talent alone will count for little if his squad cannot match it with determination and relentless work.
The defeat at Ibrox was Celtic’s first major domestic setback of the campaign, with Rangers dominating large periods of the contest and eventually running out comfortable 3-0 winners. O’Neill has since challenged his players to prove that the defeat was an isolated failure rather than evidence of a deeper problem.
And with Ferencvaros arriving at Celtic Park before Rangers return for another Old Firm meeting on Sunday, there is precious little time for the champions to recover.
Martin O’Neill’s message to Celtic
O’Neill has revealed that his immediate message to the players centred on whether Celtic had simply been beaten by Rangers or had contributed heavily to their own downfall.
The Celtic boss told CelticPlayer: “I said to the players, I’m not so sure whether Rangers beat us or we beat ourselves in that sense.
“You’ve got to put the work in, you’ve got to do it and you’ve got to do it every single week.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a home game against somebody who’s at the bottom of the league or away at Ibrox. You’ve just really got to put the work in.
“That has defined Celtic teams in the past, putting this work in. That’s what we did at the back end of last season.
“Hopefully, this will be the last time I mention it.”
The message is significant given McGregor’s own post-match comments, in which the Celtic captain highlighted a lack of collective effort and admitted Rangers had looked far more like a team.
O’Neill has now placed particular emphasis on the qualities he believes have historically separated successful Celtic sides from the rest — work rate, resilience and a willingness to fight when matches become difficult.
He pointed back to last season as evidence that his current group are capable of responding when placed under serious pressure.
“We showed heart, grit and determination to fight back having been beaten by Dundee Utd to win the next seven games, including winning against Rangers and Hearts.
“Some of those matches I think we won through sheer desire. So you’ve got to have that.
“There’s point in having all the talent in the world if you don’t apply the determination and the will to win. Sometimes that defines players.
“I’ve said this to the players in the dressing room and it doesn’t hold all the time, but sometimes you can make assumptions on players’ character about what they do on the pitch.
“You’ll give me loads of examples where that’s not true, but I think you can learn a lot from players’ character by what they do on the pitch.”
That final point is particularly revealing.
O’Neill is effectively challenging his squad to show their character through their performances rather than their reputations. It follows a derby in which Celtic struggled to match Rangers physically and failed to produce the response required once the game began to swing decisively in the home side’s favour.
Celtic have no time to feel sorry for themselves
The Celtic manager also made clear that the pain of the defeat needs to be used rather than avoided.
“We’ve had a setback on Sunday. You have to look at it and you have to hurt a bit – you have to hurt a lot, I think.
“That’s the way I spent my career. I probably overindulged in the hurting aspect but the game shave to hurt you as a player and a manager.
“After that, you go and rise above it again. That defines you as much as anything else.”
That response is now going to be tested almost immediately.
Celtic face Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener before Rangers return to Celtic Park for another league meeting on Sunday. The back-to-back fixtures give O’Neill and his players an opportunity to demonstrate whether the Ibrox defeat was genuinely a one-off.
For McGregor and the rest of the Celtic squad, however, O’Neill’s message leaves little room for excuses.
The captain publicly admitted that Celtic had failed to look like a team at Ibrox. His manager has now challenged those same players to rediscover the heart, grit, determination and work rate that he believes have historically defined Celtic.
The next two matches will provide the answer.
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