The Scottish champions followed up Sunday’s derby defeat with a poor showing against Ferencvaros in the Europa League
22:47, 17 Sep 2026Updated 23:13, 17 Sep 2026
Celtic v Ferencvaros – Best of the Europa League action
Martin O’Neill admits the under-fire Celtic squad have days to conquer their fears after flopping against Ferencvaros.
The Hoops slumped to a miserable 3-1 home defeat to the Hungarians in the Europa League, piling on the pressure following last weekend’s Old Firm thumping.
O’Neill is desperately seeking solutions ahead of the Premiership showdown with Rangers this Sunday.
When asked if Celts are suffering from a fear factor, he said: “Oh gosh, yeah. Well, we have to do it. You’re right, I think that when you lose a bit of confidence, then you become tentative, and I think this is it.
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill
“I think that the great players play through a crisis of confidence.
“Everybody’s had it at some stage or another, but for us, we have to try and battle through that.
“We’ve got to try and get a little bit of energy back into the team again, and just be prepared, you know.
“It’s Thursday evening, we’re in tomorrow, and Saturday, and just get ourselves prepared.
“Now, how we restore confidence, I think, obviously, is really essentially—and it’s almost a cliché phrase—get on the front foot, be on the front foot, win second balls.
“Things, you know, part of the game that people seem to have some sort of disdain for, but still exists.
“I think that confidence is a funny old thing, because you can gain it slowly, and it can ebb away so quickly.
“I think it’s a big thing in the game anyway, but if one or two players are lacking that, it’s part of my job to restore that.”
O’Neill admitted he’s in a rough spell but is convinced he can lead Celtic through it.
He said: “Oh, I’ve had plenty of tough weeks. I’ve had some success, and I’ve had plenty of failures, so, you know… my career might be based on failures…
“It’s important for me, as it is for the players, that I show some sort of leadership as well. Yeah, there are low moments. The loss last Sunday, the loss tonight, yeah, it does hit you hard, no question about it.”
The Hoops boss refused to blame the disjointed transfer window for the current problems but he admitted some of his new recruits are struggling.
Ferencvaros’ Daniel Arzani celebrates scoring to make it 3-1
O’Neill said: “I think that some of the players who have come in quite late. I don’t think they’ve grasped what it’s all about.
“Just, I think it’s taking a little bit of time, obviously, when we’re getting the players in.
“You know what a football club—you know what it means to the supporters.
“They know how big it is, and winning is everything.
“So, that’s something that I don’t want them to miss out on that. But that might take a little bit of time.
“And of course, bedding in and getting to know new players, we signed a few quite late on, and they have to get up to the sort of fitness levels that are demanded.
“I think that we’ll grasp it in time. It’s funny that with the international break coming up, players heading off on international duty, at least, you know, thinking about what we’ve done since we’ve arrived at the football club, how important it is for everyone, and how important their contribution is going to be.
“That’s really where we’re at now, moving on, starting off optimistically.
“We had a tough game, want to try and keep that going on Sunday.
“These are big games for us. We failed. We’ll try and learn from it if we can.
“But really, there are a couple of things that I want to talk to them about tomorrow and Saturday, but really, some of that I’ll have to just park to the side and just get ourselves totally motivated for Sunday.”
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