Celtic: Martin O’Neill Admits Major Yang Blow After St Mirren Winner — “We Are Going to Miss Him”

Martin O’Neill’s reaction to Celtic’s win over St Mirren contained plenty of praise, but one admission should concern supporters ahead of a huge run of fixtures.

Celtic came from behind to win 2-1 in Paisley, maintaining their perfect Premiership start with five victories from five.

Liam Scales cancelled out Nikolas Agrafiotis’ first-half penalty before Yang Hyun-jun produced the decisive moment.

However, Celtic must now prepare to do without their match-winner.

“We are going to miss him. He’s in really fine form at the moment.”

Yang is due to join up with South Korea for the Asian Games, meaning Celtic expect to be without him for matches against St Johnstone, the Ibrox club twice and Ferencvaros.

That is a significant loss considering his current form.

O’Neill delighted with Celtic match-winner

Yang has scored in consecutive appearances and his winner against St Mirren showed exactly what he offers.

Camilo Duran did superbly to create the opportunity during a rapid Celtic counter-attack. Yang still had plenty to do, though, keeping his composure and finishing clinically.

O’Neill highlighted another important part of Yang’s game too.

The Celtic manager praised his willingness to work defensively and do the difficult work without the ball.

That is perhaps why losing him now feels particularly frustrating.

Yang is not simply contributing goals. His energy, movement and work rate have become increasingly important to O’Neill’s team.

Celtic show character in Paisley

O’Neill was also realistic about Celtic’s overall display.

St Mirren caused serious problems, particularly during a period in the first half when Celtic struggled to control proceedings.

Yet the response after half-time was impressive.

Scales made amends for conceding the penalty by powering home the equaliser before Yang completed the turnaround.

Celtic also had two further goals disallowed during an extraordinary evening involving several controversial VAR interventions.

Most importantly, however, Celtic found a way to win.

They remain perfect domestically after five league matches, but O’Neill knows improvements can still be made.

Losing one of his most in-form attacking players just before a demanding sequence of matches certainly will not make that task any easier.

Key Takeaways

• Celtic beat St Mirren 2-1 after trailing at half-time.
• Yang Hyun-jun scored the winning goal.
• O’Neill admits Celtic are going to miss the South Korean.
• Yang is expected to miss four important Celtic fixtures.
• Celtic have now won all five Premiership matches this season.