Martin O’Neill returns to the Celtic dugout in his first game of his third spell at the club for the Scottish Premiership tie against Dundee United.
The Celtic boss’ long-awaited return was welcomed by the supporters as they eagerly awaited the announcement of his first Hoops starting line-up for the visit of the Tannadice club.
O’Neill made four changes from the Celtic side that lost to Rangers as Julian Araujo got his first start since joining on loan from Bournemouth.
Send in your score predictions for the return of Martin O’Neill against Dundee United. We’ll say 2-0 to Celtic
With a return of the trusted back four, O’Neill fielded pre-match questions from BBC reporter Kheredine Idesanne, as the Celtic boss explained the inclusion of Araujo and hit back at a wee dig about his players.
Julian Araujo is a ‘strong lad’ as Martin O’Neill changes Celtic system
Araujo got about 25 minutes of the Celtic Park Glasgow Derby as the Mexican settled into life at the club.
And explaining his inclusion in his first Celtic starting XI, O’Neill said the right-back gives his team something different.
O’Neill told BBC Sportsound, “He’s a strong lad. I think he gives us a wee bit of extra. The other lads have played a lot of games now at this minute, we’ve been, well my time anyway, we’d been midweek all the time, so we’ve played a lot of games.
“So he maybe gave us a wee bit of freshness as much as anything else.”
Martin O’Neill slams ‘really unfair’ BBC Celtic question
When Idessane suggested that O’Neill was placing round pegs in round holes in a clear dig at Wilfried Nancy’s tactics, the Celtic boss simply wasn’t having any of it.
O’Neill hit back, “I think that’s unfair, really, at the end of it, you know what?
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“The interesting thing about it, you know, players have a favourite position, there’s no question about that there.
“But sometimes when you make adjustments, players might have to play non-familiar roles for a little while, and they’ve got to try and get used to that as well, obviously, outfield players.
“And I’m not saying that you need that a centre-half can go and play wide right hand side or something. Again, I don’t mean that, but I mean when you’re a midfield player and attacking player, if you’re forced into playing in a position that you feel it’s not your normal position, I still think you can make adjustments to it, because players should be able to adjust to things.
“Not as I said to you, not not a centre-half playing outside right, but generally speaking, players who might have to move 15 or 20 yards into a new position should be able to adjust.”
Celtic fans will be delighted to see the return of O’Neill and his no-nonsense style when handling the media.
The Hoops legend is already a calming influence on the club and Celtic supporters will be hoping that pays off with results on the park.
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