Martin O’Neill has told Tomas Cvancara that he now faces a battle to get back into his plans as the season comes to the boil.
The Czech forward was completely bombed from the Celtic matchday squad as the team dramatically beat St Mirren 6-2 in extra-time in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Signed on loan by O’Neill until the summer from Borussia Monchengladbach, the 25-year-old hasn’t lived up to expectations with just two goals coming in his 13 appearances to date.
Clearly frustrated with Cvancara’s lack of output, O’Neill hooked the striker after 62 minutes of the narrow league win against the Buddies before omitting him entirely for the Hampden clash.
And with Celtic now facing five league games and a cup final against Dunfermline which will define their season, the manager made it clear that Cvancara needs to up his game.
‘We did a bit of rotating for the semi-final,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t phenomenal rotating, but I felt Junior (Adamu) has trained really, really strongly. So that’s it. Listen, people have to fight for positions in the team.’
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill made changes for the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren
Tomas Cvancara was dropped from the squad after being substituted the previous week
Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was at the Etihad while Celtic won on penalties at Hampden
Meanwhile, O’Neill has confirmed that Kasper Schmeichel is still a Celtic player after the keeper watched his first club Manchester City face Arsenal rather than being at Hampden.
The Dane hasn’t played for Celtic in two months and is facing up to a year out of football after injuring his shoulder.
On Sunday, the 39-year-old shared two pictures on social media highlighting his interest in both matches.
He posted one image of himself in a Celtic shirt with the caption: ‘Big day of football ahead! Come on the boys.’
He then followed it up with a snap of himself at the Etihad holding the Premier League trophy — which he won at Leicester — adding: ‘Big game at the Etihad as well. Reunited with an old friend.’
Schmeichel’s presence south of the border prompted speculation that his Celtic contract, which runs until the end of the season, had been torn up. But O’Neill insisted: ‘He is still contracted to the club, yes.
‘There are some medical decisions to be made on whether he’s to get this operation.
‘I will know more about that in the middle of the week. But I have been speaking to the medical staff who were telling me he was going to see a specialist.
‘He may even have done that by now as that was last midweek.
‘But I don’t know whether the specialist wants to do this operation or not. That was the last news I got but I’ll know more this midweek.’
