Martin O’Neill’s Celtic rallied in the second half at Celtic Park on Saturday, defeating Motherwell 3-1 and sending a message to the Scottish Premiership. The match, part of matchday 30 of the season, saw Celtic struggle early but turn the game around in the second half.
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Celtic fell behind in the 32nd minute when Elijah Just scored after Reo Hatate lost the ball near the box. The first half was tough for Celtic, especially with Callum McGregor sidelined due to injury, and a midfield trio of Luke McCowan, Hatate, and Benjamin Nygren having a hard time. However, Yang Hyun-Jun equalized six minutes before half-time, and the second half saw a completely different game. Tomas Cvancara scored a penalty after Motherwell went down to ten men, and Yang added another goal to secure the win.
Former BBC analyst and ex-Motherwell player Stephen Craigan pointed to the tactical changes made by the management as pivotal for the turnaround. He noted that the coaching staff was urgently giving instructions just before half-time, telling Celtic to be more aggressive. The first half saw Celtic being cautious, allowing Motherwell to dominate possession, which frustrated the home crowd. Once Celtic began pressing higher up the pitch, Craigan observed that the atmosphere in the stadium changed, and the players started to perform better.
“Right at the end of the first half, O’Neill and Maloney were trying to get the message on for Celtic to release themselves from their positions and go and press,” Craigan remarked on Saturday night’s Sportscene.
“In the first half, they were so tentative and so passive. The crowd were trying to usher them up the pitch, and they allowed Motherwell to have the ball and pass through them.”
“When you release yourself, you put the opposition under pressure, you can engage them and start winning the ball high up the pitch. This was just before the end of the first half, so I’d imagine the message from the coaching staff was to start the second half that way, and that was exactly what they did. The energy shifted inside the stadium, and the players started to grow into it,” he added.
Hearts, aware that Celtic had narrowed the gap, suffered a setback themselves, losing 1-0 to Kilmarnock. Michael Schjønning-Larsen scored the sole goal of the game in the first half, with Greg Kiltie providing the assist.
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