O’Neill hails Celtic win after ‘strange old week’
Celtic's interim manager Martin O’Neill was delighted to see his side win 4-0 against Dundee United after what he described as a “strange old week” at the club.
For the second time this season, O’Neill was appointed in the interim role after Wilfried Nancy was sacked on last week after just 33 days in charge.
The Bhoys wasted little time in finding their feet again under O’Neill, with Yang Hyun-jun opening the scoring in the 27th minute before Arne Engels doubled the advantage shortly afterwards.
Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda then scored within six second-half minutes, with both players reacting fastest to score from rebounds in the box.
O’Neill has now won all six of his Scottish Premiership games this season, while he has also won all 20 of his games against Dundee United overall – the most any Celtic manager has faced a single opponent without ever failing to win.
With Celtic now three points behind current league leader Hearts, O’Neill was pleased to see the crowd getting behind the players.
“It was delightful. We played really well in the game and in the end we won quite convincingly,” O’Neill said.
“You still have to score the first goal in the game, Yang takes it magnificently and we get up and running. The performance was really good.
“The players have to do the playing and it's been a strange old week. I've come back in again, perhaps to haunt them as much as anything else, but the players did brilliantly, absolutely brilliantly. It's a boost of confidence as much as anything else.
“The crowd were magnificent. Even in moments when we were poor, they kept with us. Today was great, there was a nice atmosphere.
"Now, being in a dog fight for the championship, we need the crowd behind us.
“Today, it was all about winning the game, but the performance was terrific. I don't think I should overlook that.
"We played really well, got some confidence back again and it was just lovely to win.”
