Celtic's Struggles Continue Under Martin O'Neill
The Celtic faithful are not used to this. Doubt, real doubt, about Martin O'Neill’s ability to drag them out of a rut. For years, the default setting was trust. Now, after another bruising night in Europe, even that feels like it’s under strain.
Four days on from being taken apart at Ibrox, Celtic walked into their Europa League opener needing a reaction. What they delivered against Ferencvaros was another heavy defeat, three more goals conceded and a performance that felt alarmingly familiar.
The basics deserted them again. Midfielders switched off. Defenders drifted out of position. Passes went sideways or astray. The tempo sagged. The intensity that once defined this team barely flickered. When they did rouse themselves, it came in flashes and from distance, pot-shots rather than patterns, hope rather than structure.
This is not the Celtic that roared through their finest days under Ange Postecoglou. That side hunted in packs, played on the front foot, took risks and dragged defenders into horrible areas. They were aggressive, inventive, relentless.
This is a pale copy.
A manager reflecting his team
Scottish football can turn on a single afternoon. That’s the only comfort Celtic can cling to now, with Rangers due at Celtic Park on Sunday for the second act of this season’s Old Firm drama.
On paper, home advantage and wounded pride should make this a live contest. In reality, their supporters are staring at the numbers and feeling a knot in the stomach. Five goals shipped against LASK. A grim ordeal at Ibrox. Now this mess in Budapest.
At times on Thursday, the football looked like a throwback to some of the club’s darkest modern European nights. Cluj and Copenhagen in 2019 and 2020. Sparta Prague in 2020. Those evenings when the team looked disorganised, underpowered, and spooked. When names like Bayo, Bolingoli, Klimala, Ajeti, Duffy and Laxalt were synonymous with a side that had lost its way.
Ferencvaros carried the same stench. Low energy. Loud booing. A team running out of ideas in real time.
O'Neill did not hide from the damage afterwards. He spoke of frustration, failure, psychological scars. How nights like this burrow into a squad and test its resolve. He promised Celtic would “get ourselves together” for Sunday, but the words landed with a thud. The tone was flat, weary even.
He listed the faults. He did not sound like a man brimming with solutions. In that sense, his interview was a mirror of his team’s display – heavy, lifeless, dispiriting.
This is the manager who has solved so much for Celtic, twice. The first time, with trophies and swagger. The second, last season, when he walked into chaos and imposed order and belief. His personality gave them edge and defiance. They were not always pretty, but they were stubborn and streetwise. On the title run-in, nobody could beat them.
That version of Celtic feels very far away now.
Soft goals, softer underbelly
The start against Ferencvaros was promising enough. Celtic saw plenty of the ball, carved out some territory and looked like they might settle into control. Then they conceded a soft goal and the fragility seeped back in.
They found an equaliser, a glimpse of the quality that still exists in this squad, but the old habits quickly returned. Safe passes. Little drive. Only a hint of emotion or anger. It was football played with the handbrake on.
The goal just before half-time summed up where they are. Hesitation in going for the loose ball. Weakness in stopping the cross. Chaos in the middle as the defence lost its bearings. It was the kind of goal poor teams concede, the kind that drains belief from a stadium.
Celtic went in at the break with 62.5% possession and a 2-1 deficit. The numbers told you who had the ball. The scoreboard told you who had the conviction.
Up front, the problems were just as stark. Camilo Duran, preferred through the middle to Kasper Hogh, had only eight touches in the first half. In his natural role, he still struggled to influence anything. The player who lit up Glasgow only weeks ago now looks like a faded version of himself.
Hogh’s story is just as troubling. This was the striker who terrorised big names for Bodo Glimt, scoring against Man City, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting, Porto, Jagiellonia and Olympiacos. At Celtic, he looks awkward, his first touch heavy, starved of service and short on confidence. One scoring appearance in eight games is a brutal return for an £11m signing.
O'Neill has not yet found a way to unlock him.
Even Callum McGregor, the heartbeat and standard-bearer, seems adrift. If he is lost, the compass of this team is spinning. O'Neill has the experience and tactical nous to correct it, but right now he does not look or sound like a man with a clear map.
Arzani’s strike twists the knife
On nights like this, football has a cruel sense of humour. Daniel Arzani, the former Celtic winger who barely made a ripple in Glasgow, stepped out of the past to finish them off.
The goal was a humiliation. Celtic over-committed, were sliced open on the counter and left chasing shadows. Colby Donovan bombed forward, then sprinted back in vain as the move broke the other way. Arzani found himself in acres of space on the left, took a breath, and picked his spot.
His shot flew into the top corner, ruthless and emphatic. It was far too easy. The defending had more in common with slapstick than elite competition.
By then, the pattern was clear. Celtic looked short on ideas, short on courage, short on physical and mental strength. They lacked creativity, ruthlessness, composure, and any real appetite for a fight.
Their manager did not radiate inspiration either. O'Neill has come through storms before and built a reputation on resilience. You almost instinctively expect him to find a way again.
But there is a lot to mend here.
McGregor admitted the team is “a little bit broken”. Rangers, watching all this, will fancy their chances of inflicting more damage on Sunday. There is always the warning about wounded animals and backlash, always the possibility that Celtic find something from deep within.
Right now, though, the opportunity is there for Rangers to land another blow.
Sunday at Celtic Park will not just be about bragging rights. It will tell us plenty about where the balance of power in Glasgow really lies.
