Celtic's Struggles Under O'Neill: A Team in Crisis

The Celtic support is used to clinging to Martin O'Neill as a kind of footballing security blanket. The man who steadied chaos last season. The man whose personality once dragged a faltering side over the line. Questioning him has never come naturally at Celtic Park.

Right now, it’s getting harder not to.

Four days after being taken apart at Ibrox, Celtic were dismantled again, this time by Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener. Another heavy defeat. Another three goals shipped. Another night where a proud club looked alarmingly ordinary.

This wasn’t a blip. It felt like a pattern.

A pale imitation of Celtic

The problems were everywhere and nowhere all at once. Midfielders switched off in possession. Defenders drifted out of position. Passes went sideways or straight out of play. The basics – pass, move, show, press – seemed beyond them.

At 3-1 down, Celtic tried to rouse themselves. Long-range efforts flew from distance, hopeful more than purposeful, as if someone might lash one in and bail them out. There was no sustained press, no coordinated surge, none of the relentless, suffocating energy that defined the Ange Postecoglou era.

Postecoglou’s Celtic played on the edge. They attacked with pace and imagination, pulled defences apart, took risks and trusted themselves to win the chaos. This version is a ghost of that side. Slower. Safer. Softer.

The atmosphere reflected it. Flat, then angry. Boos raining down, energy seeping away. It had the feel of nights Celtic fans know too well.

• Cluj
• Copenhagen
• Sparta Prague
• Legia Warsaw
• Salzburg
• Maribor

Different opponents, same sinking feeling.

O'Neill's words match the performance

In the aftermath, O’Neill spoke about frustration, failure, psychological damage. He acknowledged how hard nights like this hit a squad, how they test character. He promised Celtic would “get ourselves together” for Rangers on Sunday.

The words were there. The conviction wasn’t.

His tone was heavy, his demeanour tired. He listed shortcomings but didn’t sound like a man who knew exactly how to fix them. His interview carried the same weight as his team’s display: leaden, flat, dispiriting.

This is the manager who, not so long ago, rebuilt a broken dressing room and turned a shambles into champions. His presence alone gave Celtic a snarl. They might not always have thrilled, but they refused to lose. On the title run-in, nobody could beat them.

That defiance feels distant now.

Soft goals, softer mentality

The night actually began reasonably well. Celtic started with a degree of control, then conceded a soft goal that drained belief. They hit back with a flash of quality to level, only to slump back into caution.

Safe passes. Little risk. A hint of fire, nothing more.

The second goal, on the stroke of half-time, was the kind that exposes a team’s character as much as its shape. Nobody attacked the loose ball with conviction. The cross came in too easily. Marking disintegrated in the middle. Confusion reigned.

Celtic went in 2-1 down despite having 62.5% of the ball in that first half. Possession without purpose. Control without threat.

Camilo Duran, leading the line through the middle ahead of Kasper Høgh, managed just eight touches before the break. In his preferred position, he drifted, anonymous. A player who looked alive to the possibilities of Glasgow a few weeks ago now resembles a drained version of himself.

Høgh’s decline is even starker. The forward who once scored freely for Bodo Glimt against the likes of Man City, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting, Porto, Jagiellonia and Olympiacos has turned into a clumsy focal point, heavy first touch, no service, no menace.

One goal in eight Celtic appearances for an £11m signing. O’Neill hasn’t come close to unlocking him.

Behind them, Callum McGregor – the constant, the standard-bearer – looks strangely adrift. When the captain starts to look lost, alarm bells ring.

Arzani’s strike twists the knife

Given the way Celtic’s season is unravelling, it almost felt inevitable that Daniel Arzani would appear to haunt them. A former player who barely made a ripple during his brief spell at the club, now returning to score the kind of goal he never threatened in green and white.

The manner of it was damning.

Celtic committed bodies forward, then fell apart at the first counter. Colby Donovan over-committed, leaving acres of space behind. The recovery run was frantic but futile. The structure behind him? Non-existent.

Arzani had time to measure everything. He waited, picked his moment, and whipped a ruthless finish into the top corner. It was clinical, composed, almost casual.

The defending, by contrast, belonged in a farce. There was more order in the Keystone Cops.

A team running on empty

O’Neill now faces a brutally short turnaround to find answers. Right now, Celtic are short of almost every quality a serious side needs: ideas, conviction, composure, physical presence, mental resilience, creativity, ruthlessness, appetite for the fight.

The manager himself looks drained of inspiration. His career is full of recoveries from awkward situations, and there’s a temptation to assume he’ll simply do it again. But this is not a loose screw or a single bad habit. This is structural.

McGregor admitted the team is “a little bit broken”. That is as honest as it is worrying.

Across the city, Rangers will be licking their lips. A wounded Celtic, confidence shot, organisation fraying, players second-guessing themselves. For Philippe Clement’s side, the chance to land another blow is obvious.

Yet football has a way of flipping scripts. Wounded animals can be dangerous. Pride can rouse a dressing room that looks gone. Celtic Park can turn from anxious to ferocious in a heartbeat.

Sunday’s Old Firm isn’t just another chapter in the rivalry. It feels like a crossroads. One club sensing opportunity, the other staring into the mirror, unsure what it sees.

By full-time, we’ll know a lot more about which way the balance of power in Glasgow is really tilting.