Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers back training at Lennoxtown
Celtic supporters will be encouraged by the Sky Sports footage of both Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers both being back in training at Lennoxtown this morning…
Martin O’Neill squad is preparing for tomorrow evening’s must win match in the Europa League against La Liga outfit Celta Vigo.
Both players have had ongoing injuries issues dating back to last season
Johnston has been missing since the match at Rugby Park at the start of the season, having sat out much of last season through two hamstring injuries while Carter-Vickers has been struggling for several weeks with a knock, again having missed much of last season after an Achilles injury last October ruled him out for the rest of the campaign.
Neither player is likely to feature tomorrow night with Carter-Vickers more likely to make his own comeback on Sunday afternoon at Easter Road. But the sight of two first team stalwarts both back training is clearly encouraging news for Celtic and indeed the Celtic support.
Martin O’Neill blocks out the noise as he aims to get Celtic’s Europa. League campaign up and running
Meanwhile Martin O’Neill reckons a win over Celta Vigo will get Celtic right back into things in the Europa League after ending up pointless after the first two matches against Ferencvaros and Benfica.
The Celtic manager has clearly not been too bothered about what anyone outside of the club has to say about the 4-1 defeat in Lisbon on Thursday evening.
“Well, the interesting thing you talk about the media, in all honesty, is that I know whatever you say, it’ll go whatever way they want it to go. But I was really positive about the second half.
“I told the players in the dressing room after the Benfica game that that’s it, we’ve got to take the positive side of it, otherwise you just might as well lie down.
“I wasn’t widely bothered about what media or fanzines”
“I wasn’t widely bothered about what media or fanzines were saying at the end of it all, as long as the players believed it was the most important thing. And they certainly did,” the Celtic manager said, referring to the immediate response on Sunday afternoon when Hearts were hammered 7-1 by O’Neill’s rampant Celtic side.
“We had great moments on Sunday, it was lovely to win, it was lovely to score the goals that we did,” Martin O’Neill said. “And now we’ve got a massive game on Thursday to try and win, to try and get back into that competition.”
That kind of result and performance sends confidence sky-high and that’s something that the Celtic boss recognises. “It does, absolutely. And particularly the players who scored the goals as well, too, they feel as if they’ve made major contributions to the game.
“Callum did very, very well, scored the goals, and looked a really decent player”
“I mean, for instance, if you think that young Osmand playing wide, that was his first start ever for Celtic. He’s played wide, it’s not really his favourite position. He wants to probably play alongside the centre-forward. Hopefully that will happen in time. Callum did very, very well, scored the goals, and looked a really decent player.”
The match against Celta Vigo at Paradise tomorrow night has a more positive feel to it following Celtic’s Beautiful Sunday against a Hearts team who arrived at Celtic Park believing that they could win to get themselves involved in a three way title race, just like last season.
“I think that’s right. I think if we’ve been beaten by Hearts then again, it’s a game that you could do without. But I think for us to try and get back on track (in the Europa League) again is the most important thing.
“We desperately want to try and qualify for the knockout stage of the competition, which we did last year. We’re off to a poor start in terms of results. But we try and put it right on Thursday night against a side who can consider themselves really unlucky in a couple of their games.
“They’ve conceded late goals as well, particularly against Juventus, and so they’ll be looking for three points themselves. Hopefully it should make for an open game.”
