Former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has issued his verdict on what is going wrong at Parkhead. The Bhoys are on a run of three straight defeats that have seen them lose two Old Firm derbies and a Europa League opener against Ferencvaros.
The Hoops have looked about as flat as a team can look, and there are real concerns over whether Martin O'Neill can find solutions to the problem, both through an apparent tactical gap and personnel issues that he has been warning about throughout the summer and up to now.
Celtic failed to address key issues in the squad during the summer, failing to replace Arne Engels, and they rushed into six deals in the final day or so of the window after a summer of failed efforts.
That late rush has been called out by Petrov, who has worked under O'Neill and made more than 200 league appearances for the club. He said on TalkSPORT: "Is Martin O’Neill protected? I think he is, because he has done so much for the club. Even last season.
"But I think in this transfer window Celtic have missed a trick to add the right players. If you look at the timing of signing players, six players in the last 48 hours – this is wrong. You don’t build up winning teams like that.
"Martin O’Neill has worked wonders, and no one has questioned his coaching before, but to be honest about a week ago I did some media and I did question if that was a Martin O’Neill style. And I don’t think so.
"Me and Gaby have played under Martin O’Neill and we know what he desires and what he demands from the players – from the dressing room altogether. This is not something Martin O’Neill would do with his team – just roll over and be beaten.
"You look at the last year, Celtic playing against Hearts and against Rangers they have been second best against both oppositions. Martin managed to give them that little lift last season, but they haven’t managed to add the right personnel.
"What I would say is this would be the wrong time to sack Martin O’Neill or let him go, because it’s a difficult time of the season. Just add somebody who can help him. A director of football, a head of recruitment, somebody who can help build the right team."
O'Neill cannot exclusively blame recruitment, but the summer's awful recruitment certainly has a lot to do with the current issues, and one suspects the board know that.
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