Celtic Manager Martin Defends Tactics Ahead of Match
Martin insists his squad is “fine” heading into Sunday’s match, but the Celtic manager cut a more spiky, defiant figure as he batted away concerns over tactics, senior-player comments and the wider mood around the club.
Auston Trusty will be absent this weekend as he returns home for what Martin described as “a celebration of his father’s life”, but beyond that the manager reported a clean bill of health and a clear objective.
Winning, he stressed, is not a reaction to dropped points. It is the job.
“We dropped a couple of points and we’re trying to retrieve them if we can,” he said. “I think that’s our aim every single time, try and win the games if we can.”
McGregor’s tactical critique – and a blunt agreement
If Martin arrived in good spirits, the tone shifted when he was pressed on comments from Callum McGregor questioning the balance of Celtic’s front three.
The captain had highlighted the use of Camilo Duran and Callum Osmand in wide roles despite both being natural centre forwards, suggesting it was not a long-term solution. When those remarks were put to Martin, he initially claimed: “I have no idea what Callum McGregor said.”
Once the details were laid out, though, the manager did not bristle. He backed the analysis.
“I’ve said this to you before, so I totally agree,” Martin replied. “I totally agree that Callum Osmand is actually really a centre forward… he probably would play off somebody strong alongside him, I’m not so sure that he could lead the line on his own.
“And that Camilo Duran is really a centre forward, so the players are getting to know each other, it’s as really simple as that there, so I’m in total agreement with Callum.”
No dressing it up. No attempt to argue black was white. The front three is a compromise, born of circumstance and squad profile, and Martin knows it.
Finding answers in-house
So what now? Personnel and patience, in Martin’s view.
“We’ll sort it out,” he said. “We seem to be doing okay domestically, trying to sort it out.”
He pointed to players still waiting for their chance. Jordan Lotomba has yet to feature. Young Joel van den Berg only trained again on Friday. The manager expects the squad picture to look very different by Christmas.
“Over the course of the next number of weeks between now and Christmas, I think everybody will be on the field of play and then it’s a matter of establishing the right positions as much as possible,” he explained.
He bristled at the idea that using forwards wide is some radical flaw, reminding the room that Osmand “set us alight” off the bench against Benfica while not playing as an orthodox striker.
“Players have played out of position before,” he said. The message: this is not a crisis, it’s a puzzle.
Waiting on wingers, leaning on Hassan
The lack of natural wide men has clearly shaped Celtic’s attacking approach. Jota is not yet fully fit, Yang is still out, and Martin has been forced into improvisation in the final third.
He did, though, highlight one bright spot: Hassan’s impact from the bench.
“Personally speaking, I think that Hassan came on and I think that in the second half, he is essentially, his best position is wide right, playing in and coming in,” Martin said. “I thought he did brilliantly for us going forward, really, really terrific. He caused them plenty of problems, he got balls in, he beat players on the other side.”
Yang, who was in excellent form before his lay-off, returns to training on Monday. Martin will assess him before the international break, but there is no doubt the winger’s reintroduction could reshape that front line and ease the burden on makeshift wide forwards.
Top of the league, but no complacency
One full round of Premiership fixtures is in the books, and Celtic sit four points clear at the top. Martin’s assessment of that start was measured, almost understated.
“Yeah, I think we’ve done fine, we’re leading the league at this minute, a four point gap, which is nothing at all at this stage of the season,” he said. “We retrieved that a couple of times last year, bigger leads than that there that we fought back from.
“Domestically we’re doing fine, we’re trying to get a result or two in European football, it would be nice, but overall I’m really satisfied with the team.”
Asked what he wants from the second round of games, he set the bar high but realistic.
“If it was at all possible to match that, I would be delighted. That’s improbable, but it’s something that we’d be aiming for.”
The obvious carrot this weekend is the chance to stretch that four-point cushion to seven. Martin, though, refused to indulge in the table talk.
“I wouldn’t look at it like that, seriously,” he said. “We’re playing against Falkirk, they themselves are after a bit of a stodgy start, they’re flying now at the moment. It’ll be a difficult game for us, but we’ve a chance to try and win the game if we can, and that’s what we’ll try and do.”
“Don’t try and throw a lot of divides in”
If the league position is strong, the narrative around Celtic has felt more fraught: tactical debates, player comments, European frustrations. Martin clearly feels the gap between the internal mood and the external noise.
“Well I don’t know, I come in here every single week and I’m most of the time pretty buoyed by things, and then by the time I finish out this meeting I’m not,” he said with a wry edge. “Don’t try and throw a lot of divides in at the end of the day, we’re doing fine.”
He again pointed to the disrupted build-up to the season, with several players arriving late and missing pre-season.
“A lot of lads here that we have didn’t even do pre-season with us. A number of players came in quite late on, so it will take time for us. So we need to hang in there, and at this minute I think we’re hanging in.”
Top of the table, still searching for fluency. It is a curious mix.
Closed doors and the Old Firm question
Away from tactics and title races, Martin was asked about the decision to play the Scottish Cup game at home behind closed doors. He offered no divergence from the club’s official stance.
“Just the same as the club, I think the club made a statement on it, Iain’s told me so I would be in agreement with that.”
The conversation naturally turned to the wider issue of away fans at Celtic v Rangers fixtures. With the trend moving towards no away allocation, Martin reiterated his long-held view that the spectacle is diminished without travelling support.
“Well that looks as if that’s going to be the way, but you know that I’ve never felt that,” he said. “My thoughts have been that it’s a great, great fixture and therefore the occasion’s added to by away fans being in the ground, that’s the point.”
Then came a pointed reference. Martin brought up a pitch invasion at Fleetwood, which had been framed as an “iconic moment in the game”, a clear nod to the storm that followed the end-of-season scenes on his own pitch.
Does it still annoy him? Not quite, but the memory lingers.
“No it doesn’t irk me any more,” he said. “But what I did say at the end of the season was that I’m quite sure in my lifetime there will be another pitch invasion which will be taken in a different manner.”
The manager walks into Sunday with his team on top, his forwards slightly out of position, and his patience stretched but intact. The table says Celtic are in control. The performances, and the manager’s own words, suggest the real test of this season is only just beginning.
