Manager's pre-match press conference

Manager's pre-match press conference

Martin O’Neill and his squad have agonised over the defeat in Austria over the past couple of days, and that sense of disappointment will no doubt linger over the coming weeks.

However, there is still a lot of football to be played this season, not least a Europa League campaign which will see Celtic welcome Marseille to Glasgow and also head out to Lisbon to face Benfica.

Before any of those European ties, however, the Hoops return to domestic action this weekend when they play host to Falkirk and looking to make it three wins out of three in the Premiership.

Speaking at Lennoxtown today, Martin O’Neill said: “It was really disappointing on Tuesday night, but we just have to try and get over it if we can.

'It can be difficult in the immediate aftermath to take it all in and analyse your disappointment with a bit of time that's passed.' “In all honesty, we should have been out of sight by half-time. And I know we did not do well in the second half.

“If we'd got through, let's say we'd defended the final ball coming into the box, which was I think about the 90th minute, and we'd got through, it still wouldn't have stopped us from not having played well in the game, but getting through was the most important thing.

“One of the great highs was us winning the league last season and one of the major lows was losing this game the other night.

“We've had a talk about the game, about the major disappointment, but we have to recover pretty quickly.

“I've always been this way, both as a player and as a manager, particularly as a manager, where I've spent an awful lot of time ruminating, and I shouldn't. But you can't just push it to the side, you have to really take it in.

'But I have to concentrate now because the Falkirk game is right upon us, and we need to really focus on it.' “They played us brilliantly last season in all the games, and we got a bit of luck at their place too.

“We have to show a lot of character because there will be moments tomorrow, misplaced passes, and allowing Falkirk in for shots at goal, maybe even going a goal behind in the game where the crowd are going to get really restless. So we have to fight that.”

The manager also confirmed that Callum McGregor missed training with a stomach bug, while there are a couple of players in the squad carrying knocks from Tuesday night.

More on the game:

Keep up with all of the action on the Official Celtic FC Match Centre

Get the latest issue of our collectible match programme series

Training Gallery: Celtic v Falkirk

Official Celtic FC Podcast match programme special: Jimmy Johnstone - listen here

Upcoming Fixtures

Celtic Vs. Falkirk - Sat, Aug 8th 2026, 14:00 Match Information | Buy Tickets | Buy Hospitality

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →