Martin O’Neill put his arm around Kasper Schmeichel after Celtic’s defeat to Stuttgart and refused to pinpoint any blame towards the Danish veteran.
Schmeichel had a nightmare Celtic performance where the Hoops goalkeeper was at fault for two of Stuttgart’s goals.
And speaking post-match, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill refused to weigh in on the criticism of his experienced keeper.
O’Neill told TNT Sports, “Kasper Schmeichel, has made some great saves since I’ve been in at the football club.
You have £10m to spend on a new goalkeeper to replace Kasper Schmeichel…
Who do you pick?
“There was a game against Feyenoord where he did brilliantly and he pulls off a great save there. Otherwise we may not even be playing tonight. So this is a collective there’s no doubt.”
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On Kasper being booed, O’Neill said, “Well, I didn’t [hear it], if you tell me that’s the case, that I genuinely don’t know.”
And when asked if O’Neill will drop Schmeichel for Celtic’s fixture against Hibs, “I will think about all sorts of things during the course of the game, but Kasper Schmeichel, has done really well since I’ve arrived at the football club in the two spells.”
Why Martin O’Neill was right to defend Schmeichel despite poor Celtic performance
While Schmeichel rightly receives criticism from some Celtic fans, O’Neill was 100% correct to defend the Hoops goalkeeper. Publicly, at least.
While the Celtic manager raged at the protests, O’Neill was amazingly calm when speaking about Schmeichel’s performance.
But what else was he meant to do? Publicly throw Schmeichel under the bus just as he did the Celtic support?
O’Neill is smarter than that. Because while Celtic fans are forgiving towards the legendary boss, Schmeichel would not be.
Publicly criticising the Dane would affect dressing room morale and potentially damage any hopes of retaining the title and winning the Scottish Cup.
And while fans are right to be angry at Schmeichel, O’Neill did the right thing for the team by publicly putting an arm around his under-fire goalkeeper.
What next for Kasper Schmeichel and Celtic?
It’s simple. Following O’Neill’s comments, Schmeichel will keep his place in the team, because if the Celtic boss dropped him now, what would that say about his post-match Stuttgart comments?
With Viljami Sinisalo waiting to take his chance at Celtic, it doesn’t look like the young Finn is going to get that opportunity any time soon.
It seems that the Dane will still be relied on to get this league title over the line and, if that’s the case, Schmeichel needs to repay that faith immediately with better performances against Hibs, Aberdeen and Rangers.
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