Contrasting managerial outlooks after Celtic’s midweek result
Martin O’Neill revealed that he wasn’t too unhappy about his side dropping two points in Wednesday night’s Scottish Premiership contest with Dundee United at Celtic Park.
Despite dropping those valuable points in a 2-2 draw, the fact that our title rivals themselves dropped points in their own 2-2 draw away to Hearts, it seems that the Irishman is looking at things with a cool head.
The Celtic manager explained: “We cannot control anything that’s happening elsewhere. The disappointment and the frustration comes from not winning a home game. That’s really it. But considering the trials and tribulations over the last number of weeks, yeah, I’m not totally dissatisfied.
“I thought that we were very, very strong in the second half. From our viewpoint, we conceded some poor goals but we fought back and I just thought we were going to win it. But in the end we could have lost it too, on the break.
“I thought Dundee United were very dangerous and they played very well in the game.
“Just a bit of frustration that we didn’t win with the possession and the territory that we had, we didn’t get the winning goal. But who’s to say how important the point might be?”
His opposite number on the night Jim Goodman wasn’t as satisfied, revealing that he was disappointed that his side didn’t hold on for all three points.
Despite leading his side to an unbeaten six game run which sees them sit in fourth place, the younger Irishman spoke afterwards about his disappointment that his players couldn’t hold out for the victory after fighting back from a goal down.
“We showed a great reaction after giving Celtic a gift for the first goal,” the Dundee United manager said. “We knew that we would have to suffer and dig deep in the second half as they are relentless at times.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold on to take all three points but I am really proud of my players. They dug in at the end and got an important result to keep the run going. We played decent football and we were also resilient.
It’s hard to argue that Dundee United didn’t merit their share of the spoils. However Callum McGregor’s post match media conference comments point to underlying structural issues within the Celtic team and echo earlier remarks from Cameron Carter-Vickers and even recent signing Mika Baur.
On Sunday at Falkirk it will be interesting to see how Celtic lines up and whether we have wingers playing as wingers.
