Martin O’Neill faces Vil Sinisalo poser after Johnstone’s Ibrox display

Sam Johnstone did not enjoy a happy afternoon for Celtic against Rangers. The 33-year-old struggled to impress, making some nearly catastrophic errors on a humbling afternoon for the Hoops.

Johnstone, who arrived on loan from Wolves, started ahead of Vil Sinisalo at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday. The ex-Man Utd stopper paid back Martin O’Neill for this call by making an impressive stop at close range, earning him the gloves at the weekend.

Against Rangers, Johnstone conceded three but also made some sharp saves. In truth, there was little that he could have done about the goals that went in. However, it was the general feeling that a mistake was coming after his early miss-pass gave Kelsy an open goal – which he missed. This got the Ibrox crowd up for it and buoyed on their team to keep hounding Celtic’s backline.

Of course it wasn’t due to Johnstone that Celtic looked uninspired on the ball but it did spook the Celtic team and call into question why Sinisalo was dropped.

The young Finnish goalkeeper assumed the No.1 jersey in the summer after coming into the team due to Kasper Schmeichel’s injury in late February. It appeared that Sinisalo would kick on and stake a claim for the job himself.

An unconvincing performance away to LASK in Linz appeared to be behind the decision to replace Sinisalo but now, O’Neill might have to reconsider his decision.

In fairness to both goalkeepers, their role should be limited to starting play and stopping shots. Unfortunately, Celtic are conceding far too many shots and playing far too many balls back to the keeper, which puts the goalie position into sharp focus.

Celtic face Ferencvaros on Thursday before Rangers visit Paradise on Sunday. It is a massive week for the Hoops and we cannot afford any slip ups. The best keeper should start and that’s a matter for the coaching team.

Sinisalo is a Celtic player and has a high ceiling, perhaps he will return to the team. We shall see later in the week.