Martin O’Neill rejects claims that Celtic are out of their depth in Europe
Martin O’Neill has shot down suggestions that Celtic are out of their depth in European football after three successive Europa league defeats, saying that it’s totally unfair, and stating that his side have been competing against some quality opposition.
Chris Sutton’s uncomfortable truths
We’ll cover what Chris Sutton has been saying this morning and if his is a half empty glass approach shared by the majority of the Celtic support I suspect, then Martin O’Neill is more of an optimist with his own glasses half full.
“We are up against reasonable opposition,” Martin O’Neill
The Celtic manager said via BBC: “I don’t think it is. Benfica won again on Thursday night. I see LASK won in the Champions League.
“We are up against reasonable opposition. I thought the other night was the night to get off the mark. Is Europe a step too far for us? I’m hoping not. It might be right at the end of it all but I don’t think so.
“You want to compete here. I’m not saying it should be an absolute joy but it should be a spur to play in these games against really decent opposition.”
Celtic will be back
Martin also believes that his side are fully capable of bouncing back from their Europa set back.
“I know it’s easy for me to say, but Celtic will be back. You can definitely learn a lot from the European games. Like last season against Midtjylland, we were physically blown away. But we fought back and got some good results. That’s what we want to try to do again.
“I get it’s three games without a point though. There’s no question the European games are a step up. They are playing in the Spanish top division and have some decent players. They are decent but I believed they were beatable the other night, and that’s the disappointment.
“It’s easy for me to say so, but if we can get up and running there’s still a chance. But each game that passes when we don’t get on the scoreboard it becomes more difficult.”
Celtic will bounce back at Easter Road
Despite their disappointing result the veteran Irishman wants to see his side bounce back at Easter Road on Sunday, just as they did at Celtic park last Sunday against Hearts in the wake of a disappointing result against Benfica in Lisbon.
Martin O’Neill said: “It was tough after the Ferencvaros game. It was the opening game of the competition and we were beaten at home.
“I felt that might have been difficult coming back. I don’t want to go back to it too much but I felt the second half against Benfica was fine and we produced on the Sunday. It was definitely disappointing to drop three points the other night.
“You can’t have excuses going into Sunday. That’s how the club is built. You need to be competing.”
Martin O’Neill will assess the fitness of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston today but Auston Trusty is likely to miss Easter Road following the death of his father.
Carter-Vickers and Johnston are close and O’Neill said: “I think with those two lads and Jota will definitely be a real plus for us in the coming weeks. They are coming back from hamstring injuries so we will have a look and see if they are available. They will be a major plus for us and hopefully we’ll have Yang back in a few weeks as well.
Auston Trusty – ‘He’s very, very down, which is totally understandable’
“Obviously you are aware of Trusty’s situation. He’s very, very down, which is totally understandable.
“We’ll have to see what he wants to do. I don’t want to talk out of turn but I think there will be a celebration of his father’s life that he’ll want to go out to. He’s naturally very down at the moment but we’ll give him time and see how he is.”
Auston should be given all the time and the support that he needs from the football club and I am sure that is exactly what will happen.
