Maloney and O’Neill’s tactical adjustments suit Celtic captain’s game

Callum McGregor hasn’t had the best of times recently, but to be fair what Celtic player has? Although being the skipper he’s more open to criticism and he’s had his fair share in recent months, some understandable but most completely unjustified as the system Celtic were playing was leaving him isolated in that sitting midfield role with both Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren too far forward to offer assistance to the Celtic captain.

Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney sorted that out on Wednesday night by bringing in Arne Engels who plays alongside the captain , with Nygren pushed forward – and getting a goal – and Celtic putting on a show which will give the support confidence ahead of tomorrow’s huge match at the National stadium.

To me Callum McGregor is one of those players you don’t really take notice of until he’s absent from the side, a bit like Neil Lennon was back in the day. And that’s a compliment by the way. The Celtic engine room was in safe hands under Lenny and it’s exactly the same with Calmac controlling things on the park. Callum as well as having leadership qualities in abundance is also an extremely talented player as Martin O’Neill pointed out after the game on Wednesday night at Celtic Park. His ability is there for all to see in the middle of the park and we’ll certainly be relying on him tomorrow.

For me he’s also well suited to a more advanced attacking role in the middle of the park, a position he’s seemed to have taken up in the last two games, his excellent strike in the defeat at Tynecastle an example of his ability.

Callum has looked more like his old self these past few games, and the arrival of Martin O’Neill will no doubt have further boosted his confidence, as was evident in the 4-0 win over Falkirk, where he looked very inch the leader in the middle of the park, controlling the tempo, asserting his presence and always looking to go forward. The tactical changes brought in by Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney had an immediate impact and many players had their best game of the season in the Falkirk game.

That will come in handy tomorrow afternoon at Hampden as we look to book a place in the Premier Sports Cup final and get our first win over theRangers in 2025. On that point in the league there’s been three games at Ibrox and only one at Celtic Park and this will flip around in 2026.

Tomorrow Callum McGregor, who spoke very well at his media conference yesterday,  will have a burning desire to defy his critics against our biggest rivals, and I expect him to have a big say on proceedings on what is hopefully our first Beautiful Sunday of the year.