O’Neill backs team after ‘European lesson’ in Europa League opener | OneFootball

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has insisted his side will get themselves together after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Ferencváros in the Europa League.It was a crushing night for The Hoops at home. After going a goal down, Mika Baur’s equaliser briefly raised Celtic fans’ spirits before they were flattened two minutes later when the Hungarian side again took the lead just before halftime. Former Celtic man Daniel Arzani delivered the final blow with a top-corner strike at the start of the second half. O’Neill’s side were already low on confidence after being dumped out of the Scottish League Cup by archrivals Rangers, who they will play again in the league this Sunday. The Celtic manager is under pressure to deliver one big win before the international break, and believes he can prepare his squad in time for the Old Firm. “I think that confidence is a funny old thing because you can gain it slowly and it can ebb away so quickly,” O’Neill told the press.

“Tonight was a European lesson for us in many aspects. We’ll get ourselves together and get ready. We need to reenergise ourselves as much as anything else. And when we have decent possession of the ball, we can’t just give it away. I think we can also take risks in the proper areas of the field.”O’Neill’s side were booed by the home supporters at half-time and full time, but the Celtic manager gave a measured response. “I was here 25 years ago when the crowd could react like that, 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. There were times when we had the ball and it looked as if we were going forward, and the next thing you know we’re putting two passes backwards.“Those things definitely frustrate you and that’s something we’ll have to try and iron out.“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. “We really need to concentrate now on Sunday.”