FOOTBALL: PLEASURE...AND PAIN; Tension mounts for O'Neill as Celts display split personality.
HEARTS 2 CELTIC 4FOUR matches in and Martin O'Neill's cool and urbane facade remains smooth and unblemished, but then he hasn't yet been introduced to the one match in Scottish football guaranteed to attack the very foundations of a man's character.
The ultimate domestic test for O'Neill and his Celtic team will come on Sunday when Rangers invade Paradise.
However, although new to the rigours of an Old Firm rumble the tension may already be building within O'Neill because after having watched, sometimes in disbelief, as his team demonstrated a split personality at Tynecastle he rounded on the players.
It is understood he told them in strong words they couldn't possibly misinterpret that they had failed miserably to kill off a Hearts side which were hopelessly out of their depth in the first half.
Leading 3-0 at the break, Celtic were cruising towards an impressive triumph after having won a midfield battle which started off in frenetic fashion, but perhaps already thinking ahead to this coming Sunday too many of O'Neill's players switched off. One moment Celtic had been reaching heady heights of slick fluent movement and the next they were plumbing desperate lows.
Hearts were similar. They had been all perspiration and no inspiration in the first half, even though Gary McSwegan and then Scott Severin forced Jonathan Gould to make two wonderful saves, and then found a touch.
They began shuttling the ball around swiftly and precisely bypassing an almost totally redundant Celtic midfield which caused O'Neill's defence to buckle under the pressure of increasing assaults.
Unfortunately for Hearts their unexpected revival came too late in the afternoon and they lost 4-2 but they did enough to fuel O'Neill's rage.
It was some time after the match before he emerged from the dressing room and by then he had regained his composure, although perhaps for the first time since taking over from John Barnes his players had experienced the sharp edge of his tongue.
They deserved their going over because their performance was one of extremes. Their second-half complacency allowed Hearts to come to life and with Juanjo and Kris O'Neil on for Darren Jackson and Lee Makel they made a contest of the second 45 minutes.
Of all people Henrik Larsson added to O'Neill's trauma by missing a penalty awarded just after the interval when Scott Severin challenged Chris Sutton in Hearts' box.
Having scored twice in the first half Sutton may have expected to take the penalty but Larsson was having none of that and made it clear who takes the spot kicks by grabbing the ball. Celtic's fans waited to celebrate their side's fourth goal but the Swede ballooned his shot over the bar. Frankly, his miss was a form of justice because the penalty award seemed harsh, although it would be wrong to criticise referee Willie Young too much because he had a decent game.
Larsson said: "If I had scored the game would have been over but sometimes the ball doesn't go in."
Asked if he had considered allowing Sutton to take the penalty and try to claim his first hat-trick in Scottish football, Larsson pointed out: "I'm the penalty taker. I didn't think about Chris hitting it."
Larsson also pointed out that so far as he is concerned Celtic's third goal belongs to him although it was Paul Lambert who did most of the celebrating in 39 minutes after Lubomir Moravcik's cross from the left was headed out only as far as the midfield player.
His shot from 20 yards flew into the crowded box and Larsson managed to jab out a foot and help steer the ball beyond Antti Niemi, who must have thought that he would end up with back problems so often was he being forced to rummage around in his net.
Sutton, with two headers, had scored twice in rapid fashion midway through the first half and admitted afterwards that the deliveries from Bobby Petta had been too tempting to pass up.
The Englishman said: "The crosses were excellent. The first one was easier to miss and I just tried to put my head through the ball but the second one was better."
He might have pointed out that the dreamstate of Hearts' central defenders helped, although he did concede that if Hearts had scored a third goal it would have been "panic stations at the back" for Celtic. Would have been? So far as I could see they were in serious disarray and that's what probably concerned O'Neill most.
That and Celtic's peculiar tendency to give the ball away even when his players weren't under pressure from opponents. Although they had little difficulty in dominating the midfield in the first half players like Moravcik, Petta and Stilian Petrov allowed themselves to be pushed aside in the second period and inevitably their defence came under closer scrutiny.
Of course, the stretcher bearers had been called to remove Alan Stubbs just before half-time and his place was taken by Johan Mjallby but the back division never really looked secure. Even when Tommy Boyd took over from Moravcik in 66 minutes, little changed and Hearts scored twice in the second half.
O'Neill is struggling to find a secure unit among his available defenders and they could only watch as Severin's shot from a Colin Cameron tap to the side zoomed into Jonathan Gould's net soon after Larsson had blundered from the spot.
Hearts appeared genuinely convinced they could salvage a point but Moravcik scored an exquisite goal and although that strike did finish the game as a meaningful contest Juanjo marked his afternoon with a splendid volley for Hearts' second.
Towards the end, Severin took a facial knock in an aerial duel with Larsson, who later apologised, but the hurt from that incident would have been forgotten as Hearts manager Jim Jefferies tore into his side behind closed doors.
Too many of his people didn't perform at all and others could only rouse themselves for one half.
Still it wasn't all gloom for O'Neill who said: "I was delighted to be 3-0 up at a place like this and if we had scored with the penalty...
"But we miss the penalty and Hearts come roaring back. It's put years on me.
"I could see the ball going over the bar and I thought, 'Oh you so and so...' but really Henrik did well for us.
"There were some really great signs for us and also some ominously worrying ones."
DREAM TEAM MAN OF THE MATCH: Chris Sutton (Celtic)
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| Title Annotation: | Sport |
|---|---|
| Author: | Traynor, James |
| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Aug 21, 2000 |
| Words: | 1089 |
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