MARTIN O'NEILL has stressed the need for Celtic to make new signings this transfer window following his winning return to the club.
The Co. Derry native left the Hoops joint top of the table with a game in hand and in the League Cup Final when he handed over to Wilfried Nancy following his interim spell in the wake of Brendan Rodgers' resignation.
However, following a disastrous reign under the Frenchman, which saw Celtic beaten in six of their eight games including the cup final, the club has once again turned to O'Neill as interim manager until the end of the season.
He duly delivered in his first match back in the dugout, a dominant 4-0 win at home to Dundee United that saw the club keep a clean sheet for the first time since O'Neill left at the start of December.
Goals from Hyunjun Yang, Arne Engels, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda moved Celtic within three points of Hearts, although the Edinburgh club have a game in hand.
"It's great to win, there's no feeling like it, even at my age," the 73-year-old told Celtic TV after the game.
"It's brilliant to win, we played some really great stuff too, so I'm delighted, but you still have to get the first goal in the game.
"Yang comes up and scores it and has an excellent performance, as did all the team."
Dominant win
Celtic excelled as O'Neill reverted to a back four, with the side's patient build-up play a contrast to the often gung-ho attacking approach from Nancy that left them exposed at the back.
As epitomised in last week's home defeat to Rangers, Nancy's Celtic also often struggled to turn in a 90-minute performance, however, there were no such issues here.
Celtic led 2-0 after a first half in which they had 12 shots and 83 per cent possession, with the dominance continuing after the break as they added two more goals and ended the match with 22 efforts on goal.
Meanwhile, a defence that failed to keep a clean sheet under Nancy limited United to just three efforts, all off target.
Even when Celtic were given a scare as Owen Stirton breached the defence following an error from Auston Trusty at 1-0, a decisive, well-timed tackle from Irishman Liam Scales — regularly omitted from the staring XI under Nancy — turned the striker's effort behind for a corner.
Scales had earlier teed up Yang for the opener, while Maeda ended a run of one goal in eight games and there were impressive performances from Sebastian Tounekti, Engels and Kieran Tierney, who picked out the Belgian in the box to double Celtic's lead.
The win put a spring in the step of Celtic fans and revived hope that they can challenge for the title but despite the result, O'Neill wasn't getting carried away.
Bar new loanee Julián Araujo, this is still the same squad that Rodgers lamented should have been strengthened considerably better than it was in the summer and O'Neill appeared of a similar mindset with a busy fixture list coming up.
'No respite'
"I am hopeful that we are going to get some people in but just when you think that something might happen, things change around," said O'Neill in his post-match media conference.
"It's not me filibustering, it's just me feeling that until they're over the line, I can't come out and say that it's happened.
"But we obviously need to do it, even just to give help to the boys that are present at the minute because this week — the week's that just gone in — is the only week we've had since I've come to the football club that we've had a free week.
"From here on in we go right through I don't know how long because we're going midweek each time so there'll be no respite and if we pick up injuries to key players we could be in serious trouble.
"We need some people in and we are honestly working on it."
The only worry is that given the whirlwind nature of his return to the club, O'Neill may not have his own transfer targets lined up and will be relying on the same people — aside from the recently-departed Paul Tisdale — who underwhelmed with their recruitment in the summer.
Whoever is tasked with adding to the squad, new additions are vital given the unremitting fixture schedule O'Neill highlighted.
Should Celtic beat Auchinleck in the Scottish Cup next weekend and finish in the Europa League playoff places, they will have a game every weekend and midweek from now until Sunday, March 1.
As well as a busy fixture list, injuries to key players is another reason to strengthen the squad, with Jota, Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kelechi Iheanacho, Marcelo Saracchi and Callum Osmand currently unavailable.
Celtic's busy period begins with four away games, starting with Falkirk in the league on Wednesday, Auchinleck in the Scottish Cup next Sunday, Bologna in the Europa League the following Thursday and a league visit to Hearts three days later.
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