Martin O'Neill has no idea how to fix borderline unprofessional Celtic amid Old Firm defeat

The worst thing about this Celtic situation is that no one, including Martin O'Neill, seems to have any idea how to fix it.

The Hoops fell to a second successive Old Firm defeat on Sunday, losing 1-0 at home and once again, after barely landing a glove on their biggest rivals.

You watch this team, how passive they become once things start going wrong, once their fast starts to the game yield little, and no one seems to have any idea what is going wrong.

There is no captain on the pitch telling certain players what they should be doing, there is no manager on the sideline with a clear idea of where his side needs to improve.

Everyone tries to get on with their own job, and while it's hard to find the right adjective for what is a strange team to watch, unprofessional might be the closest description.

These are professional athletes, and I'm not suggesting for one minute that there is anyone not giving their all, but even on an amateur 5-a-side team, you'll have teammates pointing fingers and spotting what needs to change when you start losing.

There doesn't seem to be any of that in this Celtic team. It is so disjointed, so lacking in confidence, cohesion, and resilience. They are so easily forced into a mode of scrambling to stay in games that they never actually correct the problems that lead to them getting dominated.

O'Neill changed the shape for this game, going with five at the back, and you have to respect that he was finally willing to change the shape, but again, when it's not working, why not change it?

Celtic didn't get the increase in midfield dominance that they were looking for, their wing-backs were not creating overloads, and the Rangers front three were finding it easy to expose Celtic's back three down the right and left.

So, at that point, you adjust, but it's always a one-plan-fits-all situation with this Celtic team. O'Neill is either unable or unwilling to make systematic changes during games, and the result is predictable.

Substitutes are made, and O'Neill made some early in this game, which again deserves some credit, but when the system is the problem, it has to be recognised.

I'm not going to tell O'Neill, a vastly experienced manager, what system he should be using, that would be ridiculous, but even the average football fan can see what is not working, and most can even see why.

O'Neill is obviously seeing the same, otherwise, he wouldn't feel the need to make the changes, but why won't he change the system during the game? This is professional sports. Players have to be able to do that, and they are.

As a manager, you have to be able to affect games with your decisions on the touchline, and O'Neill has shown no evidence he can do that this season. That is a problem.

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