Celtic 1-3 Ferencvaros – Ange Postecoglou once screamed: ‘Stop passing it back!” | OneFootball

Remember Ange Postecoglou screaming from the touchline at Celtic Park at his player in a League Cup match against Raith Rovers “STOP PASSING IT BACK!” and the whole stadium heard him loud and clear?

Play that on a loop over the tannoy and on the big screens until the penny drops. Poor old Liam Scales being left with the ball under his foot asking himself “what the hell am I supposed to do now?” On repeat, all night. Gifting goals, mostly from outside the area too, in Linz (four), Ibrox (two) and the same last night.

Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney look on before during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Get the 4-3-3 in the bin. Get the keeper to take a goal kick and hit it up the park. Drop that tippy tappy nonsense once and for all. IT DOESN’T WORK for Celtic at least.  Here’s Liam Scales after the match:

Here’s what Martin O’Neill had to say in the media room after the game, with the pathetic Celtic ban on Celtic fan media continuing….

Michael Nicholson, CEO of Celtic and Brian Wilson Celtic’s ‘interim’ Chairman look on from the stands during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Did your team get what it deserved?

Martin O’Neill: “We were naturally disappointed getting beaten. We started off very, very brightly. We had a number of balls that were flashed across the goal and no one there to put the ball in the net for us. I thought their first attempt, proper attempt really, yielded a goal for them. It put us on the back foot for a while, we come back into the game, got the equaliser just before half-time and then conceded a really poor goal from our viewpoint, just within a minute when the fourth official puts up.

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill and assistant Shaun Maloney during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“So you’re 2-1 down at half-time, make a couple of adjustments in the second half, we’re hit on the break for the third goal and while we had a number of balls flashed across the box, even in the last 20 minutes, we didn’t get there to the front post a number of times that kept it alive and we were beaten in the game, so naturally disappointed.”

Q: The quick concession of their second goal after you’d just got back into it, that must be a huge frustration for you?

Martin O’Neill: “It’s a huge frustration, obviously, but it’s also psychologically quite damning as well just when you’ve fought your way back into the game and you’re thinking, well, if you can’t get an attack by the minute that the fourth official puts up, the one minute, at least defend it properly and we didn’t do that. So, yeah, that was really disappointing. But it’s not the start we wanted. We have seven games in which to try and get some points on the board and we’ll try and do that and then just really need to concentrate now on Sunday.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic reacts during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Your captain, I think, is talking post-match and you actually are talking about how you need to get yourselves out of this rut quite quickly. Where do you think it’s going wrong right now in these big games?

Martin O’Neill: “The matches that we lost, we lost at Rangers. I think we can go to Ibrox and you can get beaten there in the game. Tonight was, I think, another European lesson for us in many aspects. And, yeah, we’ll get ourselves together. We’ll get ready. It’s a late Thursday evening, early start on Sunday. But don’t worry, we need to re-energise ourselves as much as anything else. And when we have decent possession of the ball, just don’t give it away. But also, I think, taking a few risks as well too. Risks in the proper areas of the field, I think we could do that as well.”

Q: Martin, that’s three big games where the team hasn’t got the result you’ve wanted. Would it be fair to say that there’s an issue with confidence in the team at the minute?

Martin O’Neill: “I think that confidence is a funny old thing because you can gain it slowly and it can ebb away so quickly. Yeah, I think confidence is a big thing. I think it’s a big thing in the game anyway. But if one or two players are lacking that, then it’s part of my job to restore that.”

Q: You would have heard the boos at half-time and full-time again from the supporters. I remember when you first came in here, you spoke about unity at this football club. How much are you going to need the Celtic supporters?

Martin O’Neill: “You know, I’ve been here 25 years ago where the crowd can react like that there. So it’s genuinely nothing new to me at the end of it all. I think that they were showing a lot of frustration as well too. At times when we had the ball, we looked as if we were going forward, the next thing you know, we put two passes backwards. So those things definitely frustrate you. And that’s something we’ll have to try and iron out.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic reacts during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Does it add any further importance to this coming Sunday just given that it’s two defeats going into the game and then a big international break coming off the back of it?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah. The last time there was an international break, I think it was March, when we played badly against Dundee United. So I don’t want that to happen again. But yeah, Sunday’s a big game. It’s a big game anyway, regardless. And we’d want to… Well, we will be still actually in front regardless of the result by the time the international break starts. But even so, we’d want to put on a proper performance against Rangers for the fans and for ourselves.”

Q: Do you feel you’re getting any closer to working out your best team and how to get the best out of some of these players? Camilo Duran played through the middle tonight, maybe didn’t have one of his better performances. Are you still trying to work out exactly what the formula is?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, of course. Yeah, and I think that will take a little bit of time because the football club here has been used to 4-3-3 for quite some considerable time, for quite a number of years as well. And I think that if we’re going to try and get the best out of our best players, then we’re going to have to find another way. We went 4-4-2 in the second half. Of course, sometimes that deprives you for the extra player in the middle of the field. But it was worth risking because we wanted to do that. And I take responsibility for that.”

Q: Martin, you mentioned confidence there, but at times it looks like the team may be a bit fearful on the ball and off the ball. How do you eradicate that and reverse that in a few days or for Sunday?

Martin O’Neill:  “Well, we have to do it. I think your point is right. I think that when you lose a little bit of confidence, then you become tentative. And I think this is it. 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.

“Obviously, I’m doing a press conference tomorrow, so we can talk more about the game on Sunday, more in depth. But for us, really, we’ve got to try and get a little bit of energy back into the team again and just be prepared. It’s late 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 cliched phrase, get on the front foot, be on the front foot, win second balls. The part of the game that people seem to have some sort of disdain for but still exists.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic looks on before during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: You’ve seen it all in over 1,000 games as a manager, but is this week as tough as it gets?

Martin O’Neill: “Oh, I’ve had plenty of tough weeks. I’ve had some success and I’ve had plenty of failures. I think my career might be based on failures.”

Q: You mentioned Martin about dealing with the time to get it right. Is it a frustration or even a worry at this point that it’s still taking time to get it right, that you still need this time to figure out the formation or the tactics?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think that some of the players who have come in quite late. It’s not to say that I don’t think they’ve grasped what it’s about. I think it’s taking a little bit of time. Obviously, when we’re getting the players in, they know about the football club. They know what it means to the supporters. They know how big it is and winning is everything. I don’t want them to miss out on that, but that might take a little bit of time. And of course, bedding in, trying to get to know players. We signed a few quite late on and they have to get it. They have to get up to the fitness levels that are demanded of this league.”

Kieran Tierney of Celtic applauds fans after the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between Celtic FC and Ferencvarosi TC at Celtic Park on September 17, 2026 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Do you feel that in terms of fitting in and being a Celtic player, do you feel as though it is there from the players you’ve brought in? It might just take time, but there’s not a worry that they can’t do it. It’s just a matter of needing the time to do it?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, I have to believe that. And I actually do. I think they will grasp it in time. You need to. It’s funny that with the international break coming up and players heading off on international duty, but at least thinking about what they’ve done since they’ve arrived at the football club, how important it is for everyone, and how important their contribution is going to be. That’s really going to be it.

Now we’ve gone and we’ve started off domestically and we’ve done fine. We’re going to try and keep that going on Sunday. But that was a big game tonight for us. We failed. We’ll try and learn from it if we can. But really, there will be a couple of things that I want to talk to them about tomorrow and Saturday. But really, some of it I’ll have to just park to the side and just get ourselves totally motivated for Sunday.”

Q: Just finally, you mentioned that you’ve had tougher weeks obviously, but are you having to use all your experience at the situation you find yourself in? Are you having to dig deep personally?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, of course. Absolutely. I think that it’s as important for me as it is for the players. I have to show some sort of leadership as well too. Yeah, I’ve had plenty of low moments. But the loss on Sunday, the loss tonight, yeah, it does hit you hard. No question about it.”

Here’s Martin O’Neill speaking to Celtic’s in-house media CelticPlayer…

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