Martin O’Neill looked irritated while responding to questions about his Celtic starting lineup for the Scottish Cup clash with Rangers at Ibrox.
The Celtic boss faced a barrage of queries after naming an unexpected side for this afternoon’s encounter at Ibrox.
Speaking in an update to supporters, O’Neill clarified the absence of Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Marcello Saracchi and Kasper Schmeichel, revealing that two of the four omissions were purely due to ‘team selection’.
Callum McGregor’s Celtic absence, captain is ‘pretty sore’ to face Rangers
The biggest surprise was captain Callum McGregor being left out of the matchday squad, with O’Neill outlining the reason behind the skipper’s absence.
O’Neill told BBC Radio Scotland, “He was feeling pretty sore by the end of the Aberdeen game, and he’s just not recovered.
“It’s a blow to us. He’s a captain in every aspect of it, you know, both a leader in the dressing room and on the field.
“And, yeah, he’s a big miss for us. You have to accept things like this happen in football, and you’ve got to get on with it.
BBC: “Kasper not in the squad as well, is that just recovery from illness?”
O’Neill: “That’s exactly it. A recovery yes, and from the injection as well, to sort of just start to just give a little bit more time.”
Marcello Saracchi & Daizen Maeda selection down to Celtic ‘tactics’
As the BBC reporter continued pressing the Celtic manager, O’Neill seemed to grow frustrated as the journalist kept probing his lineup decisions.
BBC: “I’m not sure I’ve analysed the team quite as much as I’m going to here, but Liam Scales, I think is going to play left back, is that accurate with no Kieran Tierney?”
O’Neill: “Well, you know you would think that with Kieran out, also with injury, that you think that would almost be logical. Don’t know what’s logical in this game anymore.”
BBC: “I think some people are wondering why Marcelo Saracchi maybe didn’t step in…”
O’Neill: “Just the team selection at this minute, I’m quite sure that he will be on the field of play before the end of the match.”
BBC: “My final question around the team is the striking position Daizen Maeda appears up there, with others not featuring, that may be concerning again.”
O’Neill: “It’s team selection. Again, it’s team selection.”
BBC: “You’ve got a plan?”
O’Neill: “Well, hopefully we’ve always had a plan. Whether that ever materialises in the manner which you wanted to do is a totally different thing.
“I’ve known this year from my experiences, both as a player and as a manager, but you know, we’re going to try and approach the game really positively. That’s what we want to do.
“We want to try and start better than we did this time last week. And we want to, we want to try and perform.”
It turned into quite an intense line of questioning, and in fairness to the BBC reporter, the numerous alterations did require clarification for Celtic supporters.
This could be one of the weakest Celtic starting XIs fans have witnessed in quite some time, and many will be hoping the manager’s decisions do not end up backfiring on the Hoops.