Martin O’Neill on Police visit, Baur’s fitness and choosing Celtic’s keeper for Sunday
Q: What’s the overriding feeling ahead of this fixture you know so well?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, anticipation. I’m looking forward to it the usual way, you know. Nervously looking forward to it, excitedly looking forward to it, but yeah, it’s a great fixture.
Q: Every time, there’s a sort of story attached. One of the big talking points is obviously the no away fans, which you have spoken about, but I wonder how it impacts the football match itself when it comes around?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think that it’ll be strange in many aspects not to have any away fans in our area. I always felt as if it would give you a crumb of comfort in some description. We had the police come in today, just a little 15-minute meeting just to remind us of our behaviour, which I think is a timely reminder.”
Q: Is there a football message from you to the players about trying to silence that home crowd, use it to your advantage, how you start the game? Is it something that gets referenced or something that’s ignored?
Martin O’Neill: “I think the games themselves almost take care of themselves in that sense. There’s a great atmosphere. I think I mentioned, was it the league game that we played? 2-0 down early on in proceedings and Ibrox was probably as loud as it’s ever been and a really great atmosphere. Reciprocated by us in the post-split game as well too, I thought that was really great. But I just think, yeah, it’ll be a bit strange not having the fans in, but I think, as I say, the atmosphere takes care of itself.”
Q: Martin, how’s the fitness of the players, is everyone available? Is Mika Baur available?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, we’re getting there. Sorensen started for us on Wednesday night and it’s just a matter of getting to know the players. And the best way to know about them is to get them on the field, regardless of how well or how busy they are in training.”
Q: You didn’t start Camilo Duran midweek, obviously you’ve been one of the standout players so far this season. When do you see him fitting in on Sunday? Might you have to play in a different position?
Martin O’Neill: “We’ll see, I’m not terribly sure. He was just, I’m not surprised, a little bit tired I felt in the St Mirren game. But he’s been so brilliant for us and I just thought that we could maybe rest him for the game. I’m not sure that we could, I’m not sure that we’re good enough to rest people in that sense. We will have to, over the course of time, make changes, particularly if you’re playing European games. But to me, league is still the most important thing and you always get concerned about putting new people into the team in a very important fixture. But, you know, it happened and Sorensen played for a while, Camilo didn’t, he obviously got on. I’m just happy that we got through it.”
Q: With the goalkeeper situation, is Sam Johnstone your number one? Are you expecting him to start at the weekend?
Martin O’Neill: “I haven’t made my mind up at all. I thought he did very well. Again, it was a matter of we need to get a look at what Sam can do. I think it’s great to have the two of them. I think Viljami Sinisalo has done exceptionally well for us. And it was just, again, an opportunity to see what Sam can do now, what he could do a couple of years ago was fantastic, what he can do now might be a totally different picture.”
Q: Just on Mika Baur, he didn’t train today. What’s the story with him?
Martin O’Neill: “No, he’s fine. He is actually fine. He’s just picked up a bit of a knock, but he’ll be available to train tomorrow. And, yeah, he’s okay.”
Q: In terms of the police visit you mentioned, is that just in regard to any celebrations?
Martin O’Neill: “I think it’s the overall picture. It would be nice to have something to celebrate. I think it’s just general behaviour from us. They didn’t mention this, but I would have assumed that one of the things that would be considered is what happens in the field of play, because these things can be taken further.
“You don’t want any sort of punch-ups for a start. Secondly, you don’t want excessive celebrations, stuff like that, if that was the case. I’d be delighted to be celebrating something in the game. But I think it’s just the behaviour in the light of what has happened in recent fixtures. I think that the conversation with the police wouldn’t have taken place had not recent events been brought up to us.”
Q: Derek McInnes was saying in his pre-match media conference yesterday, that the crowd can get right behind his team and that could help his cause. Do you look at it from a different perspective? You can make the crowd, or your team, can make the crowd anxious?
Martin O’Neill: “I suppose if you get in front in the game, that makes them anxious. Talking about getting in front and getting in front are two different things. I think the crowd will be right behind their team, which you would expect. We expect that to be reciprocated the following Sunday. We just do our best. We know that we’re up against a very fine side. We’re up against a crowd that can make a difference.”
Q: In terms of the match going all the way, Martin, do you plan to take practice penalties?
Martin O’Neill: “We absolutely do, we’ve always done this in cup competitions. It cannot replicate the stadium, the crowd, all of that type of stuff, either home or away. It’s not like that at all, but at least if you’ve had a couple of penalty shots, even if you’re a centre-half or something, and you’re asked to do it, and if you’ve not practiced it, it’ll be a double-whammy for you, because you’ve not done it in front of a big stadium and you’ve not even practiced it. So you might as well have a few shots, and that’s what we do at the end of the training sessions.”
Q: Given that you might make five or even six substitutes during the game, your original five can change?
Martin O’Neill: “Absolutely, exactly. I think if you’re looking at about five minutes to go on extra time, unless they’re sure that it’s going to go to penalties, it’s the first time that you probably really think about it. You might have had some of your best penalty takers starting the game, just coming off through fatigue or whatever the case may be, and whatever you’re left with, that’s it. As I say, I defy any manager to say that they can think further ahead than that.”
Q: Martin, what do you expect from Rangers this weekend? Because Derek has changed his team and formation quite a lot since the start of the season. What do you expect from them?
Martin O’Neill: “I think they’ll be strong, I think they’ll be robust, I think they’ll be ready to go and we need to be able to match that.”
Watch Martin O’Neill’s mainstream broadcast media conference below, ahead of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final at Ibrox against the Rangers…
