Martin O’Neill spoke to the media at Easter Road yesterday afternoon after Celtic’s vital 2-1 win over Hibs in a match that was overshadowed by a series of disgraceful refereeing decisions. Here’s everything that was said…
Q: Your thoughts on the game?
Martin O’Neill: “I thought we started really strongly in the game and spurned a couple of really good chances. Then we get the goal, Hibs had a man sent off as well too, so I thought a few things in our favour, I was hoping. I think we actually played better when they had 11 men than we did when they had 10. Hibs showed last week, they were down to nine men and they fought so strongly, so I knew that was always going to be difficult, but the goal just before half time changed mindsets of both teams, Hibs having something to hold on to, us then having to go and try and score again.
“I thought that we, in an attempt to try and create things, I didn’t think we had any real clear-cut chances in the second half, a couple whizzed across the box, I think it was one in particular before we scored where I thought it could have been a tap-in at the back post.
“Overall it was just trying to get that second goal. We got it, and then strangely enough, again, Hibs’ mindset changed, it doesn’t matter, they’ve nothing to lose, put it forward, and it’s a matter of trying to see the game through at the end. It would have been lovely if we had got a third goal, it gives you something, but overall, delighted to have won, and just a nervy ending in a game that probably, I think maybe we might have been our own worst enemies.”
Q: Did it feel significant, because before that second goal, it did feel like it’s going to end 1-1?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, absolutely, yeah. We had to win, we had to win today, really as simple as that, and I was trying to find a way to win it. Iheanacho comes off the bench, scores again, I heard Alistair talking about it seemed as if it took about five minutes before the ball came down to him, but he put it in, and he’s done that for the last number of weeks for us.
Q: He’s a player that you think is better coming off the bench rather than being in the starting line-up?
Martin O’Neill: “I think with the injuries that he’s had this particular season, when I came here, my first spell, he was injured, then the second one, I think that Wilfried had put him into the team, I think he injured himself in the League Cup final, trying to recover from that. So at this minute, he hasn’t played a great deal of football, he has been a super impact player.
“I’m sure he’s desperate to start the game, but we’ll see, but at this minute, the way that Daizen Maeda has started centre forward for us, and he can shift over to other positions. Of course, there is the danger that you don’t give him enough time to get on the pitch, because you could spend ten minutes, and him not getting into the game, so that’s something that we’re trying our best, and so far, it’s worked out for us at the minute.”
Q: He’s out of contract at the end of the season, is he someone you think the club should look to keep around?
Martin O’Neill: “That’s for another day. I think that the fitness element is the most important thing, and I think you have to go and prove that you’re fit, and the only way to prove it is on the field of play. What he has done for us has been terrific, really terrific, particularly now, you’re looking at his overall contribution through injuries and stuff like this here, for a whole season, those are the things that I’m sure the football club would weigh up on as much as anything else.
“Although he keeps telling me he’s very, very young, time does catch up with players, although I think he’s only 29 or 30. If the club were to keep him, then it’s really to do with a proper pre-season for him, a real proper pre-season. I think he arrived at the last moment, didn’t he, here, so he would have to do it, and I think that he would benefit greatly from that there, where you’re getting three or four weeks’ work into him before the season started, which I think he needs, obviously.”
Q: Martin, what would you make of the refereeing decisions today?
Martin O’Neill: “So I have the little monitor to the side, which Gavin Strachan sort of controls there, so I’m probably listening to what he’s saying as much as anything else. So, yeah, eventually, I think Gavin thought it was pretty contentious, the equalising goal, he thought that that was the case. Naturally, I’m pretty biased now, without even saying it, of course I agree with him, but it is what it is, whatever VAR is going to come up with, it’s going to happen. It worked for us in one aspect, it didn’t work the other way, and I suppose I would have probably, the truth is I probably would have a different opinion and a different answer to you had we lost the game.”
Q: Martin, do you have any concerns about VAR, given how tight it is, there’s just three games left, you know, three teams going for it, do you have any concerns that it could play a big role?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I’m sure, absolutely. I thought, way back when it was introduced for the World Cup in 2018, I thought it was a really good thing. Even now, what, six or seven years on, I really don’t know, I genuinely don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. What I think it has done is stop referees from refereeing properly, I think, in the game. But I think that was going to be a natural thing eventually in the course of time.”
Q: Martin, the result obviously brings you a level of points with Hearts, where do you plan on watching that game at Tynecastle tomorrow?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I’ll not be at it, but I won’t be at the game, live, I’m not so sure that it’d be a fantastic welcome there, but I’ll be watching it. I’ll watch the game, I do anyway, I’ll watch the matches and see. We have got the Player of the Year award tonight at our place, and obviously, I’ll watch it at the club or the training ground, but I’ll definitely watch the game.”
Q: Have you got a preferred outcome tomorrow night?
Martin O’Neill: “I really don’t know, I don’t know. I suppose the one thing I look at, even if we won the rest of the games, we’re not guaranteed to win the league, because if Hearts win all their games, they’ve got a better goal difference than us, and you’re not going to make those goals up. Today, with Hibs down to 10 men, had we maybe got a second goal before they scored, then it might become a different issue, but as it turns out, it was very edgy towards the end, so I genuinely don’t know. Maybe a draw.”
Q: Could I just ask about Alistair Johnston? How much of an impact do you think he made on the performance?
Martin O’Neill: “I thought he did really well. He’s a proper athlete, from the start. He played about 20 minutes last week, he started the game here, always felt he was only going to get about 60-65 minutes anyway, and that’s a problem because we’ve got a number of players that you’re starting to think what you don’t want is a plethora of players coming off after 65 minutes, but it’s the nature, it’s what has happened to us.
“But his overall performance I thought was really good, really, really good. A good player, and I think he has been missed, obviously, during the course of the season. We have had to get Julian Araujo in from Bournemouth, who I thought did very, very well for us, but they tell me that Alistair’s a real, real proper player, and from the bits that I’ve seen in the training that we’ve done, and in these games, you can see that he’s been a major player for the club.”
Q: Will you be behind the couch watching tomorrow?
Martin O’Neill: “I’m behind the couch most of the time, yeah. I was behind the couch for the last five minutes there.”
