O’Neill’s Post-January Pivot: Celtic’s New Angles in a Tight Title Race

January didn’t “fix” Celtic. It re-aimed them. Under Martin O’Neill, the team has started playing like a side that’s learned where the margins actually live: not in prettier possession maps, but in second balls, restart detail, and the 10-second windows when opponents are deciding whether to step or sink. The Ibrox draw on March 1, 2026, was the clearest snapshot: a rotten first half, then a second-half squeeze that turned Rangers’ comfort into panic, capped by Kieran Tierney’s header and Reo Hatate’s late penalty chaos to salvage 2-2. 

Hearts leading the table has turned every Celtic tweak into a title-race referendum. With nine matches left and a gap that still favors the leaders, Celtic’s “pivot” isn’t about vibes. It’s about repeatable patterns that travel, survive pressure, and keep the door open. 

Hatate’s set-piece job: less flair, more certainty

Hatate’s evolution isn’t just “he takes them now.” It’s what Celtic are asking a dead-ball taker to do: reduce waste, force predictable second phases, and turn restarts into territory rather than roulette. At Ibrox, Hatate’s late penalty became its own little micro-drama, saved twice before he finally scored on the third attempt in stoppage time. It looked chaotic, but it’s also the point: Celtic stayed on the doorstep until the door cracked. 

The numbers aren’t massive, but they’re telling. Transfermarkt’s 2025/26 penalty breakdown lists Hatate as 1/1, while Arne Engels is 0/1, a small sample that still hints at hierarchy shifting toward Hatate in high-leverage moments. The bigger change is the shape around him: Celtic now treat corners and wide free kicks as rehearsed chances to pin opponents in, then win the next duel, then hit the box again. You can feel the emphasis in how quickly they reset bodies for the second cross instead of admiring the first.

Tierney’s left-side overloads: the Ibrox comeback blueprint

Tierney’s return to the left flank has given Celtic something they didn’t have in the first half at Ibrox: a reliable “escape hatch” that also happens to be a weapon. His goal – header from a Benjamin Nygren cross – wasn’t a random moment. It came from Celtic finally building an overload that forced Rangers to defend facing their own goal instead of stepping out with swagger. 

The pattern is simple and nasty:

• A wide left starting point to stretch the back line.
• A runner inside the fullback to occupy the near-side centre-back.
• A third man arriving late, so the defender can’t mark the cross and the cutback.
• Tierney timing his surge so he hits the space as the ball arrives, not before.

When Celtic do this well, it doesn’t just create chances. It changes the opponent’s pressing behavior. Rangers’ wide players stop jumping to the fullback because they fear the underlap and the quick switch-back into the channel. That hesitation is how Celtic start living in the final third again, and how you drag a derby back from 2-0 down without pretending the first half didn’t happen.

Engels–Yang as a front-two: pressing traps, not just chasing

The “front two” look – especially in certain phases – has been less about playing two strikers and more about building a press that has teeth. Engels can be the first trigger, not always the finisher: curving his run to show the ball into a specific lane, then snapping the trap shut when the receiver takes the bait. Yang’s value is that he can play both roles in the same move: the sprinter who forces the first touch, then the thief who lands on the second. Their confidence has been visible in moments like the 4-0 over Dundee United, where both got on the scoresheet, a reminder that this isn’t just theory-board stuff – it’s affecting output. 

The trap Celtic want looks like this:

1. Force the pass into the fullback or near-side pivot.
2. Lock the touchline with the winger’s body shape.
3. Have the “second striker” jump the inside option, so the only “safe” ball is actually the risky one.
4. Win it, then attack before the block resets.

When it works, it’s suffocating. When it doesn’t, it can look like two lads sprinting at shadows. That’s the risk of turning pressing into identity: you have to be precise, or you’re just loud.

When Celtic Shifts Gears, The Markets Move With Them

Cricket-Style Session Betting

Celtic’s half-time swings now resemble Test cricket sessions: one plan in the morning, a different tempo after lunch, and a late push when the pitch starts misbehaving. The smart angle is treating each half as its own market rather than a single 90-minute story. Corners at Parkhead, especially “over 5.5” style lines, often behave like run-rate bets because momentum can inflate volume fast once Celtic start pinning teams in. When a punter wants quick access to those props, online cricket betting bangladesh can sit alongside Celtic and EPL options in the same flow. The practical habit is watching the first five minutes after the restart: if Celtic’s fullbacks are higher and the second balls are sticking, the corner count can climb in a hurry.

Mobile Tactical Deployment

The Kyogo substitution effect is basically a live market alarm: when he enters, the pace of box actions changes, and prices move with it. That’s when app speed matters, because a late surge can flip “comeback” narratives in a few touches. Tierney’s overlaps are a reliable trigger for those spikes, since they turn sterile possession into actual delivery and chaos at the back post. If you’re trying to beat delay friction, a direct install route can be cleaner than waiting on storefront approvals or device quirks. For that use case, melbet download is positioned as a fast path for live betting moments when Celtic matches get frantic.

Europe in the background: Como Cup pain, Ajax lessons, qualifier realities

The Como Cup result against Ajax – a 5-1 loss in July 2025 – still matters because it exposed what Celtic look like when the opponent can punish every loose angle. Ajax didn’t just outplay them; they made Celtic’s defensive spacing feel amateurish for stretches. Yang scoring Celtic’s lone goal was a useful detail, too: even in a rough night, Celtic found a way to arrive in the box with purpose. 

So what’s the “lesson” as qualifiers loom? It’s not the lazy one – “be more clinical.” It’s structural:

• Don’t let restarts become transitions the other way.
• Don’t ask your press to win miracles; if the first line is beaten, the next line must already be set.
• Make your attacking width defendable: if Tierney is high, the counter-coverage has to be automatic, not negotiated.

O’Neill’s domestic pivot – dead-ball detail, left-side overloads, and pressing traps – looks like a manager building habits that survive European punishment. Hearts may still hold the advantage, but Celtic are at least moving like a team that understands what the title race is asking. Not perfection. Repetition. And nerve. 

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