Martin O’Neill is at a crossroads, either change tactics or watch Celtic’s season go down the drain, and that needs to start next Sunday
Martin O'Neill needs to look in the mirror and decide if he wants to stick with the status quo and flush this season's chances down the toilet...
Eric Knott 
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 13: Celtic manager Martin O'Neill during a Premier Sports Cup Quarter-Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on September 13, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Well, I did say it was time to deploy a 3-5-2.
I said it on Wednesday night after Perth, and I’ll say it again tonight, because nothing has changed apart from the scoreline.
3-0.
At Ibrox, in a cup quarter final, with not a single one of our own in the ground to see it.
Today was the day that Martin O’Neill should have gone with the courage of his convictions.
Today was the day to rip the formation up and start again.
He didn’t.
And we are out.
Is anybody actually surprised?
Starting Sebastian Tounekti again today was a recipe for disaster, and everybody outside Lennoxtown saw it coming
I wrote about Tounekti four days ago and I take no pleasure at all in repeating myself.
The boy has had a year to come good.
He still has no final ball in him, and he still has no end product once he gets anywhere near the box, and that’s being kind about it.
With Hyun-Jun Yang away doing his bit at the Asian Games, we had nobody on that left hand side capable of hurting anyone.
So what did we do?
We picked the same shape, with the same personnel, in the biggest domestic game of the season so far.
And we got exactly what that deserved.
Derek McInnes went with the courage of his convictions today, and that is the difference between the dugouts
He effectively ran a 4-4-2 out there this afternoon.
He looked at what he had, he looked at what we do, and he set his side up to take advantage of it.
It worked for him.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it didn’t – credit where credit is due.
Whether Del Boy is any good over the course of a full season is still an open question for me, of course.
But he made a decision today and he was rewarded for it.
Can anyone tell me the last time our manager made one?
Martin made no decision at all.
How many more of these do we have to sit through before somebody admits 4-3-3 does not work?
We have spent north of £30million since the end of last season.
And we still cannot get a cross into the box for Kasper Høgh.
Just imagine Høgh and Camilo Duran up there together, with two wide men whose actual job is to deliver something to them.
A man can dream, as I said last week.
Instead we get the same shape every week, regardless of the opposition, regardless of who is available and regardless of what the previous ninety minutes just told us.
Celtic seem unadaptable to change of any kind.
And the tactical inflexibility is far and away the most infuriating part of it for me at the minute.
Because it is the one thing at our club that would cost absolutely nothing to fix.
Not a penny.
So why will nobody do it?
Hugh Keevins had his say in the Record this morning, and I told you on Friday that he would.
Here is what he had to say about the state of our club:
“Domestic domination, however, always acts like cosmetic surgery on the face of the club.
“That’s because fans will ultimately tolerate European inadequacy so long as they can appreciate the beauty of localised bragging rights.”
Hard as it is for me to type, he isn’t wrong.
And who among us could argue with it tonight?
Six failures to reach the Champions League proper, all of it papered over by winning things at home.
But the cosmetic surgery only holds as long as we keep winning at home.
A Scottish Cup Final handed to Aberdeen, a League Cup Final handed to St Mirren, and now out of that same tournament at the quarter final stage.
Three cup exits in fifteen months for the richest club in the country.
The face is starting to slip, and the board are going to have to look in the mirror sooner or later, whether they fancy what they see or not.
Ferencvaros on Thursday, the same side again next Sunday, and Martin is standing at a crossroads tonight
Either he changes the formation and the personnel for next weekend, or he watches this season go down the drain in real time.
There is no third option available here.
And please, nobody come to me with the idea that all of this is down to the absence of Yang.
If one winger being at the Asian Games is the difference between competing and being beaten 3-0, then that £30million was spent very badly indeed.
That particular conversation is one for the board, though, and not for the manager.
The shape is on Martin.
The team sheet is on Martin.
I’ve backed him since the day he walked back through that door, and I’ll back him again the second he shows me he is willing to change something.
Anything.
Next Sunday is the day to do it.
You already know what happens if he doesn’t.
Because if we go out there next weekend in a 4-3-3, with Tounekti on the left, against a side that has just put three past us, we will lose again.
It’s that simple.
Key Takeaways
- The author criticizes the 4-3-3 formation used by Martin O’Neill, claiming it lacks adaptability and has led to disappointing results.
- Sebastian Tounekti’s poor performance highlights the need for a tactical change, as he fails to deliver on the left side.
- Derek McInnes successfully employed a 4-4-2 formation, contrasting with O’Neill’s rigid approach.
- Celtic’s recent cup exits raise concerns about the team’s strategic direction and management decisions.
- The author urges O’Neill to make necessary changes for upcoming matches or risk further failures.
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Wee del calm and composed at the end of the game reason he got one over on Mon dumped us out of cup will be laughing when he is on on his own a true thumping to a disgrace of a team
What the feck are you talking about,Eric ??
Next Sunday ??
How about we go for a 3-5-2 test drive on Thursday night ??
Today,the 3-0 scoreline flattered us as it could have been more than double that number.
Someone has to tell whoever it is that’s picking the starting 11 that Tounetki is not,and neither is James Forrest, a starter in any formation.
They are both impact subs,at best.
Today’s shitfest,as well as the one in Austria, were down to the guys in the dugout but they can only select who is available to them.
So,in the final analysis,we again turn to the parasites infesting the boardroom because they are the ones who have been made aware by more than one manager of the need to strengthen the squad and failed to do so.
Broonie was a great captain and a very underrated player but at a pinch he would pass the sniff test as a defensive midfielder.
In all honesty, can we really say we adequately replaced Victor Wanyama all those years ago ?
I fear the worst if there isn’t some self reflection in that dressing room because we have to play the shitty hand the board has dealt us AGAIN !
We dodged a bullet last season but I’m not so sure we will survive the artillery barrage that’s incoming from all and sundry as LASK and now the huns have illustrated how easily we are to bully.
As weak as new born kittens were Celtic today…
We’re doin f*ck all in Europe anyway so it’s a game to tune up for next Sunday…
If they turn us over at Parkhead the season is as good as pure fu**ed…
Ach well The Five Way Agreement has worked after all !
I would change it on Thursday run it out and see what happens let’s be honest it’s a meaningless game anyway and please don’t give it oh we get money for a win or draw we don’t spend it anyway. It’s imperative for our season that we change our formation,I can’t watch another minute of this torture.
I thought today would have finally hammered home the glaringly obvious(since last season), Martin doesn’t do tactics, and you can’t react, or change something you don’t do.
Martin O’Neil must surely see when he plays Nygren they are playing with 4 upfront Nygren isn’t a midfielder when Celtic lose the ball he’s our furthest player up the park , if he wants to play Nygren he has to sacrifice a striker for him to play
Let’s be honest, we’ve been papering over the cracks for a long time with this squad. That’s why we all crave improvement in order to at least have a pop at qualifying for and competing in the CL. We thought that Duran (rightly) would bring some much-needed quality and Hogh (i’m reserving judgement on him and at the moment he’s in the Adam Ida category) and Hassan too (who i think will turn out a good player for us). But that aside, if we look at the bulk of our squad, they appear scared and nervous on the ball, lacking in composure, lacking self-assurance, and most damning of all, to a man, they haven’t a clue how to turn forward and direct play towards the other teams goal. This has somehow become a sickness at Celtic and it’s horrendous to watch on a weekly basis. Repetitively boring sideways and back-passing has become the norm. What’s most worrying is that they clearly appear to think that this is the right way to play given there is absolutely no variation on a weekly basis or attempt to try something different. Tierney, Macgregor, Trusty, Scales, McGowan and Nygren can only swing with their right legs. As a result their options are extremely limited. Everything seems to have to go through Calmac and therein we have the main problem on the playing side. To be fair to Calmac, he doesn’t shirk his responsibility or hide, but we need better. We need different, and we need more than one option in the middle of the park. Other teams know this and can anticipate easily what they are going to do and pressurise those players into more or less always doing the safe thing as a result. Whether they manage to do the safe thing is a different matter. Young Donovan will at least cut inside and drive forward on the other side but unless those others are given copious amounts of time, they are without fail passing backwards or sideways at best when they are moving to their right because they have no other option. At any level of football that is poor but it is an indictment of our poor technical ability when it should be so much better as professionals. As for strength and physicality, that’s not really a discussion. The evidence is there for all to see on a weekly basis. Whether it’s powderpuff Tounetki, Trusty offering zero muscle or high balls to our back post where Tierney just gets outjumped and/or outmuscled our team is extremely lacking in this department and all the other sides in the spl know this and can easily rattle us or limit us where we don’t already limit ourselves. I hear and totally agree with all the sentiment about the board who are worse than useless but that’s a different matter and one not settled easily or else it would have been done by now. Sometimes a team and a club can just run out of ideas, lose the will to keep improving and complacency becomes the norm. When a support seems to unanimously see what they clearly don’t, the omens aren’t great. I sincerely hope that i’m proven wrong but i’m not holding my breath.