O’Neill hits out at critics as Celtic boss issues surprising response to McGregor’s midweek comments

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has claimed some of the club’s critics are only seeking to cause division within the camp.

On the back of a 2-2 draw with Dundee United earlier this week, Celtic skipper Callum McGregor claimed they are playing like a basketball team who lack control in matches.

McGregor also appeared to question the fact that Celtic started the match effectively with three strikers across the frontline in Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran and Callum Osmand.

‘It’s not really having a nailed-on profile for each of the positions,’ said McGregor. ‘The players behave like a winger, or they behave like a striker.

‘You can get away with it for a few games but if it’s a striker playing as a winger, you are going to get that behaviour a lot of the time.

‘You’ve got enough quality so you can score goals and get away with it. But we have to try to get the team functioning the way it should.

‘Then that will alleviate all the other problems that we are encountering, where it becomes a bit like basketball, you lose control and spend the next 15 minutes trying to get possession back.’

At half-time in the game against United at Parkhead, O’Neill took Hogh off and reverted to a more traditional system with Jota and Haissem Hassan coming on as wingers to replace the misfiring Dane and Osmand.

Celtic eventually fought back to claim a point, but McGregor’s comments became the subject of much scrutiny.

It is not the first time a senior player has spoken out this season, with Cameron Carter-Vickers claiming that Celtic’s style of play was ‘random’ after the Old Firm defeats to Rangers.

O’Neill insists he actually agrees with McGregor’s comments — but has vowed to find a solution at the top end of the pitch.

The veteran boss also appeared to snipe back at some of the critics who have claimed that there is unrest among the squad.

‘I’ve said this to you before, I totally agree that Osmand is actually really a centre-forward,’ said O’Neill when asked about McGregor’s verdict.

‘I’ve said it at the press conference, that he is essentially a centre-forward who probably would play off somebody strong alongside him.

‘I’m not so sure that he could lead the line on his own. And that Duran is really a centre-forward.

‘So the players are getting to know each other. It’s really as simple as that. So I’m in total agreement with Callum. We’ll sort it out.

‘We seem to be doing okay domestically, trying to sort it out.

‘There’s a few players that haven’t had a chance. [Jordan] Lotomba hasn’t had a chance yet to play. There’ll be moments, absolutely. 

‘Young [Joel] Van Den Berg has trained today. So over the course of the next number of weeks, between now and Christmas, I think everybody will be on the field of play.

‘And then it’s a matter of establishing right positions as much as possible.

‘Players have played out of position before. I don’t know whether it was a big issue when young Osmand came on in the Benfica game and set us alight.

‘I come in here [to the press conference] every single week and I’m most of the time pretty buoyed by things.

‘Don’t try and throw a lot of divides in. At the end of the day, we’re doing fine.

‘A lot of lads here didn’t even do pre-season with us. A number of players came in quite late on, so it will take time for us.

‘So we need to hang in there, and at this minute I think we’re hanging in.’

With Rangers playing Aberdeen in the semi-finals of the Premier Sports Cup, Celtic travel to Falkirk tomorrow knowing that a victory would send them seven points clear of their Old Firm rivals.

O’Neill added: ‘I think we’ve done fine, we’re leading the league with a four-point gap at this minute, which is nothing at all at this stage of the season.

‘We fought back and retrieved those kind of leads on a couple of occasions last season.

‘We’ll try and get a result or two in European football which would be nice, but domestically we’ve been fine.

‘Falkirk had a bit of a stodgy start, but they are flying now, so we know it’ll be a difficult game for us.’