Celtic ran riot at Celtic Park this afternoon, picking up their biggest win over Hearts since 2013 in the League Cup.
There has been a lot of pressure on Martin O’Neill following Celtic’s defeat in Portugal during midweek, but that pressure has eased after they defeated Hearts, who came ever so close to winning the title last season.
O’Neill said: “It was a great, great win. I thought the performance was great and certainly gave us confidence going into Thursday evening, and hopefully we can continue that. Obviously, they’re delighted. The team as a whole are delighted in there, and individually, I think they should be really pleased.
“I think it’s very early to be talking about a four-point lead. We were four points behind with about seven games to go last season, so it can be eroded very, very quickly.
“But it’s nice to win today, and to win in the manner in which we did. From Hearts’ viewpoint, it was probably just a bad day at the office, but they’ll still be challengers. They’ve got some really decent players who can play a bit.
“I just think it was the manner in which we broke up play and got forward, obviously finishing off the chances that we had. This time last week, we created a lot of chances against Motherwell but didn’t take them. Today, we took them, and that was probably the most pleasing thing.
“If we lose on Thursday, it’ll be a crisis again, so, you know, I’ve been here before. You just have to try and win, and we know that anyway. It won’t be easy for us, but it would be nice, and that will definitely give us a boost.”
Celtic took Callum Osmand off at half-time, bringing on Jota, who has just returned from injury. However, O’Neill revealed that a potential injury was the reason the former Fulham man was substituted.
“He had a hamstring problem. I’m not surprised, really, because he hasn’t played that much,” said O’Neill. “It was more precautionary than anything else.
“It’s just that I was worried. Tim, the physiotherapist, said to leave him out, and I think he would have said that even if it had been 0-0. I think he wanted to continue for a while, but I think he saw sense, and I think he should be okay for Thursday.
“He deserved the chance last midweek. I think he and Hassan, coming on at half-time, gave us a bit of impetus in the second half on Thursday, so they both deserved to start the game.
“Callum did great. He has a goalscoring instinct; there’s no question about that. I’m not saying that wide left is his strongest position. He’s small, so leading the line might be difficult for him, but playing alongside somebody quite strong, I think he could do really well.
“Listen, he wants to play anywhere as long as he’s getting into the team.”
Osmand is expected to be available for Celtic’s upcoming UEFA Europa League clash against Celta Vigo, although Yang Hyun-jun and Cameron Carter-Vickers are both set to remain sidelined.
“The answer would be no, definitely not for Yang,” revealed the manager. “He’s doing well. He’s back on the grass, as they say now, but no, he won’t be ready for another week or two yet.
“Cameron, the earliest we’d probably see him would be the Hibs game.”
