O'Neill: Celtic must treat heavy Rangers loss as a learning curve

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ShareRangers dispatched Celtic 3-0 on Sunday in the Scottish League Cup, but Martin O'Neill expects matters to be much different next week.Martin O'Neill expects a big response from his Celtic team following their 3-0 loss to fierce rivals Rangers.Celtic crashed out of the Scottish League Cup as Rangers booked their place in the semi-finals with an emphatic win at Ibrox.Rangers captain Dan Neil netted a double, with Kevin Kelsy scoring with a fantastic volley, as Derek McInnes oversaw what he will hope to be a watershed victory early in his tenure.The Glasgow giants will meet again in the Scottish Premiership next week, at Celtic Park, and O'Neill is confident matters will be much different."We were well beaten. The 3-0 scoreline doesn't hide it, it was a tough afternoon for us," he told BBC Scotland."We were well in the game early on, even at half-time, but they were stronger than us on the day and they deserved to win."I think throughout the first half we, in really good positions, gave the ball away, we had three or four brilliant opportunities on the counter-attack and wasted them."Everything Rangers did I expected them to do. Whatever way Rangers set up, they're not going to give me a call and say what they're going to do, so we had to counter that."Next Sunday will be a different ball game when we've got the home crowd with us, and if they make the same sort of noise as Rangers made that will be very helpful. We can learn from this, and that's the most important thing. We need to."If you've been beaten in the game, you always think about selection. I will think about my own part in proceedings, and then we'll see. I wanted people to experience this atmosphere, and they certainly did."This is a setback and hopefully a learning curve for us."There were no away supporters at Ibrox, meaning a 50,000-strong home crowd were fully behind Rangers.Neil put Rangers ahead in the 23rd minute, finishing neatly into the corner after great play from Ryan Naderi and Kelsy in the build-up.Kelsy then turned from provider to scorer with a thumping volley from Neil's tee-up, before Rangers' skipper rounded off the scoring with a sensational curler in the 75th minute."It was the performance and result we were all looking for," McInnes told BBC Scotland. "The game demanded a big performance, and I thought we delivered on that. It's a good reference point for my players. They're a young squad, and they saw how much that result means to the supporters."We'll enjoy [the win], but the challenge at this club is to go and do it all again next week. We had to play well because Celtic have the quality that can change the game in a heartbeat."In the main, we deserved the win and scored at the right times, something we've not been doing a lot of."It doesn't guarantee anything; we've got to try and do it all again, and probably a bit more, next week."I expected a big performance from us; I hoped we would win the game if we got that. It's seven wins out of eight, five wins in a row; it doesn't feel like that sometimes."It's up to us to keep reinforcing the message that when you play at Rangers there's another big game round the corner, and that's what we've got next Sunday."I love the togetherness; I need to have this team who cares for each other, has love for each other. When things aren't going well, you sometimes see the true strength. We've had some soul-searching and tough times the past few weeks."It gives so much encouragement to the club, fans, the board as to what we're capable of."Rangers dispatched Celtic 3-0 on Sunday in the Scottish League Cup, but Martin O'Neill expects matters to be much different next week.Martin O'Neill expects a big response from his Celtic team following their 3-0 loss to fierce rivals Rangers.Celtic crashed out of the Scottish League Cup as Rangers booked their place in the semi-finals with an emphatic win at Ibrox.Rangers captain Dan Neil netted a double, with Kevin Kelsy scoring with a fantastic volley, as Derek McInnes oversaw what he will hope to be a watershed victory early in his tenure.The Glasgow giants will meet again in the Scottish Premiership next week, at Celtic Park, and O'Neill is confident matters will be much different."We were well beaten. The 3-0 scoreline doesn't hide it, it was a tough afternoon for us," he told BBC Scotland."We were well in the game early on, even at half-time, but they were stronger than us on the day and they deserved to win."I think throughout the first half we, in really good positions, gave the ball away, we had three or four brilliant opportunities on the counter-attack and wasted them."Everything Rangers did I expected them to do. Whatever way Rangers set up, they're not going to give me a call and say what they're going to do, so we had to counter that."Next Sunday will be a different ball game when we've got the home crowd with us, and if they make the same sort of noise as Rangers made that will be very helpful. We can learn from this, and that's the most important thing. We need to."If you've been beaten in the game, you always think about selection. I will think about my own part in proceedings, and then we'll see. I wanted people to experience this atmosphere, and they certainly did."This is a setback and hopefully a learning curve for us."There were no away supporters at Ibrox, meaning a 50,000-strong home crowd were fully behind Rangers.Neil put Rangers ahead in the 23rd minute, finishing neatly into the corner after great play from Ryan Naderi and Kelsy in the build-up.Kelsy then turned from provider to scorer with a thumping volley from Neil's tee-up, before Rangers' skipper rounded off the scoring with a sensational curler in the 75th minute."It was the performance and result we were all looking for," McInnes told BBC Scotland. "The game demanded a big performance, and I thought we delivered on that. It's a good reference point for my players. They're a young squad, and they saw how much that result means to the supporters."We'll enjoy [the win], but the challenge at this club is to go and do it all again next week. We had to play well because Celtic have the quality that can change the game in a heartbeat."In the main, we deserved the win and scored at the right times, something we've not been doing a lot of."It doesn't guarantee anything; we've got to try and do it all again, and probably a bit more, next week."I expected a big performance from us; I hoped we would win the game if we got that. It's seven wins out of eight, five wins in a row; it doesn't feel like that sometimes."It's up to us to keep reinforcing the message that when you play at Rangers there's another big game round the corner, and that's what we've got next Sunday."I love the togetherness; I need to have this team who cares for each other, has love for each other. When things aren't going well, you sometimes see the true strength. We've had some soul-searching and tough times the past few weeks."It gives so much encouragement to the club, fans, the board as to what we're capable of."