Celtic’s title hopes are just about still alive after the Hoops came from two goals down to rescue a point against Rangers.
Martin O’Neill’s birthday was almost in tatters but Reo Hatate’s 90th minute equaliser ensured the two teams would share the spoils.
The Hoops are still some way off Hearts in the title race but have a game in hand to move up to second and narrow down the tally. With that, having watched the events at Ibrox, here is what I learned from that performance.
Did Celtic just save their season with a second half comeback vs Rangers? Give us your thoughts in the comments 👇
WHAT. A. COMEBACK.
Celtic still can’t produce a 90 minute performance
The contrast between the first half and second half was night and day.
As the side trudged off the pitch at Ibrox, Celtic looked like they were on the verge of conceding four or five goals.
Thankfully, O’Neill made some changes and the Bhoys were able to pull it back. It is another opportunity missed though and we are still waiting for a game where the Hoops were brilliant from the first minute to the last.
Martin O’Neill finds a way to get a result again
Had that been any other manager in the dugout for Celtic, the Bhoys would have folded like a deck of cards.
O’Neill has been here before, though, and wouldn’t have let the players get away with those performances.
The likes of Daizen Maeda need to have a look at themselves, despite winning the penalty for the second goal, and was lucky to stay on the pitch.
He may have not been the first manager to win a Glasgow derby on his birthday, but he has perhaps kept the chances of winning the league title alive, just about.
Why do you think Celtic managers are so insistent on playing Daizen Maeda despite his form?
Martin O’Neill doesn’t trust his strikers
Benjamin Nygren is overperforming his xG with 14 league goals but nobody else in the side has hit double figures.
Junior Adamu and Tomas Cvancara were both brought in on loan to provide more firepower but haven’t hit the ground running.
It was telling that O’Neill swapped Adamu out for Sebastian Tounekti at the break and left Cvancara on the bench as an unused substitute.
That doesn’t scream confidence and total faith in his options, proving that the recruitment this season wasn’t up to standards.
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