Motherwell 0-2 Celtic – We’re top of the league and they’re no’
That’s more like it Celtic! A comfortable 2-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park with the scoreline very much flattering the home side…
Truth be told Celtic could easily have scored six or seven on the day Jota returned from injury, the Celtic support – thanks the the Green Brigade – paid tribute to club legend Danny McGrain and the supporters also let Dermot Desmond know exactly what they think of the job he is doing dictating all matters Celtic.
Martin O’Neill spoke to Sky Sports shortly after the final whistle. He’s what he had to say:
After that a very satisfied Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media. Here’s what was said at the Celtic manager’s post match media conference…
Q: Martin, how good is it to be talking about the positives of your team’s display in a win?
Martin O’Neill: “We played really well today, we created a lot of chances and from start to finish I thought we were excellent.”
Q: Do you think it’s been that break when you’ve got that chance to impose what you want them to do on a regular basis?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I know I suppose it’s easy to say that. I think that we just had to refocus on the things that have made the team good. I think that we fell short in that there in terms of closing players down, things like this here, that extra energy. And of course with a lot of players away on international duty I was a wee bit concerned about that energy but overall I was delighted with the team.”
Q: Do the players have to try and work out how to get Kasper Hogh scoring goals or is it just a case of maybe he needs to just wait and bide his time and it’ll come good?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, he slipped up at a time when it looked as if he was going to score and I think it’s one of those, I think he just needs a goal. The rest of his game I thought was really fine, he just needs a goal, that’s what strikers thrive on.”
Q: Do you feel you should have scored more today Martin?
Martin O’Neill: “Oh, we had a lot of chances and we could have done. The first goal is really important, a great goal by Camilo. And then it settled us down which was good, although I thought up until then we had a lot of possession. So in terms of chances, yeah we could. A lot of things have flashed across the box, a number of chances both halves, but delighted to win.”
Q: Is that a concern at all? Are you delighted to create so many chances?
Martin O’Neill: “I think if you’re creating them I think sometimes it will go in. Just as you’re saying about Kasper, hopefully something will fall to him. Even Shim Mheuka coming on, he looked as if he was going to get his goal, didn’t happen for him. But yeah, just really pleased. Pleased with the performance, pleased with the energy that we showed and delighted to win.”
Q: There was a lot of talk about the identity of the team, it seemed that there was a real identity to the way you wanted to play there?
Martin O’Neill: “I think that was important, I think when you lose a few games there’s question marks about everything really. And if you mean identity in terms of the sort of work rate that we put in, I would agree with you.”
Q: How much of an asset will Jota be?
Martin O’Neill: “I think he’ll be great for us, really great. Personally speaking I didn’t think that he would be back as quickly as this. I was probably thinking more like end of November time or something like that. But no, he’s been training with us for a number of weeks, played a half in the bounce game that we had last Friday and has come on there. So I’ve just spoken to him just before coming up the steps and he’s feeling really good, really good. So I think he will be, if he stays clear of big injuries again, I think he’ll be a big asset to us.”
Q: How pleasing is the clean sheet in addition to the victory?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think that was really important for us. We had a couple of moments, a few scary moments and we saw it through. And I think yes, psychologically I thought that was good for us not to concede.”
Q: How are you feeling about things ahead of the European game?
Martin O’Neill: “The European game will just end up taking care of itself in that sense. You’re going to Benfica, I think they will probably be a bit disappointed. They’re not in the Champions League and they played brilliantly against Hearts. So it’ll be a tough game. But for us domestically to get on track again was delightful. So we’ll have a look at that there on Tuesday morning.”
Q: Another player who must be feeling good about himself at the moment, Mika Baur?
Martin O’Neill: “I thought he played really well today, really well. Maybe his best game for us so far. And he kept it going throughout the whole period of the match. And considering, you know, he’s quite lightweight. I thought his whole control, his ability today, I thought it shone through.”
Q: That was your 250th victory as a Celtic manager, was that a nice milestone to hit?
Martin O’Neill: “Somebody mentioned it earlier, even before kick-off. I thought to myself, that’s a bit presumptive. So I hadn’t won the game at the time. I genuinely didn’t know that, but it’s nice.”
Q: Two points clear as well, Martin. It’s not bad for a club in crisis, is it?
Martin O’Neill: “Thank you. You and I are going to get on well. I think that we have to take the criticism at the time. Yes, we lost three matches in a week. Two to our big rivals, the European game, so yeah. But we fought back today and let’s see what Thursday brings.”
Q: The fact that you’ve managed to bring Jota, Hassan, Mheuka on in the second half, it shows you’ve got pretty good strength and depth in that attack?
Martin O’Neill: “I thought Hassan in that little period was really excellent for us. He’s settling down naturally. He’s one of these lads that just likes to be on the ball. Sometimes when we don’t have it, he just goes a bit wandering for a while. He’s got a lot of talent, a lot of natural talent. Hopefully, during the course of the next couple of months, we’ll be able to see that.”
Q: Are you expecting Carter-Vickers to be fit for Thursday night?
Martin O’Neill: “He might not be fit for Thursday. I think he’s got a strain and he’s missing this one. Physios and the medical team have told me that Thursday might be too early.”
Q: Martin, how tough will it be when you’re going from the level of Motherwell to Benfica? And obviously going game after game when your greatest rivals don’t have European football?
Martin O’Neill: “I think that was the point. I think that’s a big advantage for them in many aspects. I wanted Rangers to qualify for their competition just to play the games. It wasn’t altruistic on my part. I just wanted them to play the matches. We’ll try and deal with it as best we can. Obviously, the most important thing for us is to stay up there in the league. But the European games, and I’ve said this before to you this time last year, it’s what the club are aspiring to. Whether we’re good enough to compete here or not, I couldn’t really tell you.”
Q: How much did you need a result and performance like that after all the noise in the last few games?
Martin O’Neill: “I think it was nice to play as well as that. Of course, there was a lot of noise and a lot of it we brought on ourselves as well too. So, nice to win.”
Q: On a personal level, Martin, is there a sense of relief as well because of the pressure you had coming into this game?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I didn’t feel it like that. I genuinely didn’t feel it like that. Maybe I should have done. The pressure to win football matches is always on. And maybe in that aspect, yeah, I felt pressure. If we’d been beaten today, of course, that’s like four in the trot, so, that doesn’t help any manager. But we didn’t. We won and so we look forward to Thursday and the following Sunday.”
Q: Martin, was there an issue getting into the game with one of the buses or something happened?
Martin O’Neill: “News flies in quickly, doesn’t it? How did you get that? Yeah, we have two buses generally. I think that’s been a thing since COVID time. The two buses were at the hotel, but one of them didn’t work. And so we all piled on to the one bus as it should be really because players and management teams should really be going together.
But we’ve had this idea about buses. I think Stevie Woods was telling me, way back we travelled to Ross County or something, there were six buses. Plenty of space in them anyway.”
Q: Should you go back to the one bus from now on?
Martin O’Neill: “That I genuinely don’t know. There’s a lot of staff these days.”
