The SMSM insists the HEAT is on Martin O’Neill if he loses his next two games at Celtic Park, and so it should be…

There’s a lot of debate at the moment as to whether Martin O’Neill should survive as Celtic manager if his team loses tonight to Ferencvaros, and then on Sunday to the Ibrox side.

Strangely enough, many people are uncomfortable with even having this discussion.

Unfortunately, for the realists amongst us, it’s a discussion that has to be had.

In the two games that have mattered most this season, Martin O’Neill has come up drastically short.

Which begs the question, if he falls short again tonight and on Sunday, where does that leave him?

Well, I’ll put it in simpler language, if it was any other manager, would he survive such a run of important losses?

Last night on the Bhoycie Bus, Bhoycie and I discussed the importance of the next two fixtures.

We discussed the fact that if we win these two games, any form of crisis is averted.

For now.

Two wins will put a sticking plaster on the current situation we find ourselves in.

But it will not correct the problems that are deeply embedded in the Celtic football squad at the moment

Which is the fact that we do not have the players to deploy an effective 4-3-3 system.

That is the main issue at Celtic right now.

So, as the manager, Martin O’Neill needs to figure this out.

He can’t keep shoehorning players into positions that do not suit their abilities.

It is having an adverse effect on their performances, and Camilo Duran was a perfect example of that last Sunday.

He is clearly unhappy being played as a right winger.

At Qarabag, he was taken out of that role for that exact reason.

It didn’t suit him.

Because it was discovered at Qarabag that he was more effective as an out and out striker.

And a striker of Champions League quality, which was evidenced with the 5 goals he scored in that competition.

Putting him back in the right wing position is clearly making him unhappy at Celtic

Look, it’s clear to everyone that players are not being used to the best of their ability at Celtic right now.

I don’t need to name them all, and how it’s affecting them.

Everybody is aware of this problem right now.

Martin O’Neill is the individual who is paid handsomely to figure it out and manage it.

Thus far, he hasn’t done a great job of that.

In ten games in all competitions, Celtic have conceded a total of 148 shots against them.

Obviously, a substantial portion of these shots came from a single fixture, the UEFA Champions League playoff match against LASK, where we faced 60 shots alone.

Across all competitions, we are giving up an average of 15 shots per game.

That’s an alarming stat.

And it indicates that opposition teams are waltzing through our midfield, and then our defence.

That has to be addressed and it has to stop, starting tonight

Martin O’Neill himself has admitted that he understands that the heat is currently on him as a result of our poor performances in big games.

He said:

I’ve been here before. I have, honestly. And the reaction is no different to what I would have expected.

It’s an absolute crisis if you lose… and at the end of it you don’t want to lose too many, losing too many might end up with you not winning the league. That’s what it’s all about.

It’s about wanting to have what it takes to be a Celtic player, as is the case across the way.

What does it take? It takes big character. You have accept the fact that even at home, you misplace the ball two or three times, the crowd can get on you.

It happens all over the place but it seems to be magnified. You’ve got to be able to fight that.

The great Tommy Burns once said it’s easier to play against Celtic than to play for them! Which is a really good point.

I never had the luck to play for Celtic so I don’t know that aspect but I feel it and I have managed the team.”

All very reassuring words from Martin, but we need to see an actual positive response to what happened last Sunday afternoon.

He has the perfect opportunity to show that response tonight.

Every Celtic fan is going to be waiting eagerly for the team sheet and tactics tonight.

Change is expected.

If we do not see it, it is only going to further agitate an already agitated fanabase.

The response needs to be the right response tonight.

Because right now, everybody is uncomfortable with having a discussion about Martin O’Neill’s future.

Win these two games, and that discussion goes away.

Lose them, and it needs to be had.

Legend or not.

It will be discussed ad-nauseam over the next two weeks of the God-awful international break.

Being Celtic manager is about winning big games.

Losing them does not spare anybody, even Martin O’Neill, from scrutiny.

So the equation is simple.

Win tonight, and win on Sunday.

Crisis averted.

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