Celtic boss Martin O'Neill shares thoughts on Green Brigade return and reveals key man's fitness concern
Celtic moved into second place with a hard fought 1-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead.
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has shared his thoughts on the return of the Green Brigade after the fan-group re-entered Parkhead for the first time in five months during their 1-0 win over St Mirren on Saturday afternoon.
The 74-year-old boss watched his side keep the pressure on Hearts at the top of the table with a narrow victory, and temporarily leapfrogging rivals Rangers into second place ahead of their game against Falkirk tomorrow, thanks to a 15th-minute goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (15) at Celtic Park.
Originally handed a six-game ban in early November due to ‘”safety concerns”, the fan ultras group have been missing from Celtic home games for several months after the ban was extended in December, but were welcomed back for the game against St Mirren.
“I thought we didn't play very well,” admitted O’Neill. “I thought the energy levels looked low. If it had been, say, the last 10 minutes of the game, you're holding on to something, you can understand that. But no, it set in pretty early in the second half, which is a bit of a concern. We'll try to rectify that if we can next week. Just winning is really important, but we didn't play well.
“I thought the crowd were great to us because they could easily have got irritated with some of the things we did. We were loose in possession at times. They kept us going. A bit like against Dundee last weekend, which had a big effect on us staying in the game after Dundee had equalised. I thought they were great. If by the end of the season, we could get a few things rectified, cleared up, call it what you will. It felt like a real Celtic Park atmosphere.
Despite scoring the winning goal for the club in the win over St Mirren, O’Neill admitted January signing Oxlade-Chamberlain is still some way from being at filt-tilt, and revealed that another of his key players was forced to play through the period barrier after picking up a knock in the lead-up to the game.
“He's [Oxlade-Chamberlain] won the two games, which may be important at the end, who knows,” said O’Neill. You can see he's got a bit of class about him. This lad played for England at the time that they had a lot of good players - they still have. It's just a case of fitness with him. Regardless of training with Arsenal for a couple of months, which he had done, at the end of it all, you still have to play games.
“He's getting fitter, which is great. I just thought he looked really tired. Callum had a bit of a problem during the week, he wanted to play, I'm delighted that he did. And, he really didn't feel any worse than before. So absolutely delighted that he got through as much as he did. We need him.
The Celtic boss was also able to call on Belgian midfielder Arne Engels for the first time in two months, with the £11million midfielder returning for the bench in the second-half.
“Arne did really well, gave us a bit of stability. He wasn’t making lung bursting runs but was getting himself into it. That was good considering he’d been out for so long. He is a strong lad. You can see why teams are interested in signing him, in particular the offer from Nottingham Forest just before the transfer window close.
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