Cillian Sheridan has questioned the decision to start Sebastian Tounekti for Celtic in yesterday's derby - and says he immeditely predicted he would be subbed at half-time.
A surprise omission from the champions' XI at Ibrox was Haissem Hassan, with Sebastian Tounekti instead lining up on the left wing, with Camilo Duran on the other side and Kasper Hogh through the middle.
Hassan was brought on for the Tunisian winger at half-time as Celtic trailed, and manager Martin O'Neill later revealed the reason for the Egyptian not starting. An "overnight issue" had caused a lack of sleep and the decision was taken to keep him on the bench.
But Sheridan felt the wrong call was made and Hassan should have started until he had run his race. And he was not surprised at all to see Tounekti hooked after 45 minutes.
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The former Celtic striker told BBC Scotland: "I’d be surprised if he changed his tactics (to face Ferencvaros). I can imagine personnel changing because I think there were too many players who didn’t show up against Rangers.
"I was surprised, to be honest, that he started with Tounekti. I thought it was built for Haissem Hassan to go in and really see the front three of Hogh, Hassan and Duran.
"I just thought, if there were worries over his fitness - I’m talking about Hassan - you start him and give him 60 minutes. If he blows up after 60 minutes, you want to get that rather than (not starting).
"I always felt, as soon as the team was announced, that change was going to be made at half-time. I could have told you that yesterday.
"So I think he’ll (Martin O'Neill) maybe take a little bit of criticism, probably for his selection and maybe one or two of the substitutions he made."
However, Sheridan does feel the reaction to just one defeat may have been ver the top.
He added: "As soon as there is one bad result, it’s magnified. It’s like the season is in crisis.
"It’s weird because they started the league five for five, and then there was one loss. Although it was a bad loss and a bad performance, suddenly it’s crisis time.
"But football is short and it’s fickle. They could go and get a good result on Thursday night and that might steady the ship a little bit."
