Celtic were defeated 1-0 by bitter rivals Rangers on Sunday, and Martin O’Neill has since made it clear he is going to review whether to carry on as manager.
The display certainly left a lot to be desired, with the visitors coming out on top on every important attacking metric.
|
Match statistics |
Celtic |
Rangers |
|
xG |
0.71 |
1.23 |
|
Shots |
5 |
15 |
|
Shots on target |
1 |
8 |
|
Big chances |
1 |
2 |
|
Touches in opposition box |
20 |
28 |
Although the Hoops remain top of the Scottish Premiership table, courtesy of winning their opening six matches, losing against Rangers twice in quick succession was always going to cause problems, and the 5-4 aggregate loss against LASK Linz has compounded O’Neill’s problems.
In hindsight, bowing out after winning the title and Scottish Cup last season may have been a fitting end to the 74-year-old’s time at Parkhead, and club chiefs are now starting to lose their patience.
Inconsistency is a concern, as the Glasgow giants maintained a perfect record in the league before Sunday, but came up short in some disappointing defeats in Europe, with Ferencvaros running out 3-1 winners at Parkhead on Thursday night.
O’Neill’s position may be under threat, but Chris Sutton has since suggested there are deeper problems at Celtic, and Dermot Desmond may need to make another change before making any hasty decisions about replacing the manager.
Chris Sutton slams Celtic’s recruitment after Rangers defeat
Replying to a call for Celtic to sack O’Neill on X, Sutton said: “That’s fine but any management team taking over a midfield which has no legs, running power and physicality will struggle against a half decent team. Maybe change the recruitment team first…”
The pundit was also very critical of his former club’s overall performance, and suggested Rangers deserved to win by a greater margin, saying: “Celtic lucky to lose 1-0. Top of the league still but very worrying. Celtic looked like a team thrown together. Very lightweight, no physicality in the middle of the park but we knew that. Rangers knew their next pass, Celtic didn’t… every proper test this season miles off it…”
Callum McGregor and Mika Baur made up O’Neill’s midfield, and made ten tackles between them, but failed to influence the game from an attacking point of view, with neither player having a shot nor creating a big chance.
Sutton was particularly critical of the lack of energy in the midfield, and the Celtic boss has admitted he is missing Arne Engels, following his move to West Ham United in the summer, saying: “He’s been a loss in terms of that running power he can give you.
“He’s been a loss in terms of that running power he can give you.”