Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was left scratching his head as he looked back on his side’s 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Celtic Park this afternoon that increases the lead at the top of the league to TWELVE points over chasers theRangers who face a difficult away trip to Tannadice tomorrow to face Dundee United in a match Mick Beale’s outfit simply must win.
Celtic scored twice, hit the woodwork four times and generally missed a bucket load of chances particularly in the second half. The use of the substitutes simply raises the stakes and Kilmarnock did well to get away with such a narrow defeat as it really should have been six or seven today from the Bhoys.
The goals from Jota and Kyogo either side of the interval secured the points in a match where Reo Hatate defied the stat-based podcasters to pick up a richly deserved man of the match award.
Giakoumakis, so desperate for a goal smashed the woodwork twice in a few minutes and James Forrest then took the anything you can do I can do better with a couple of remarkable misses, with the goalpost rattled again.
On ongoing speculation on the Greek striker’s future Ange recalled that in his first managerial job a player left after two games because he got a better offer. Accordingly Postecoglou has never got too attached to his players, saying: “I’ve never fallen in love with them.”
Speaking to BBC Scotland after the match the Celtic manager added:
“It was a sticky first half for us, we couldn’t find our rhythm. Credit to Kilmarnock for making it difficult but I still think we made some poor choices. Second half, we took control, played in their half and looked a lot more threatening. To be fair, we probably should have had two or three more,” the Celtic manager added.
“Sometimes things don’t go your way and it’s not about trying to motivate the players, it’s about staying disciplined. We’re a very fit team and we’ll work hard for 95 or 100 minutes and opposition teams have to match that. We’re comfortable where we are, we know there are still 17 games to go. We want to finish the season stronger than we started.
“We have a cup semi-final to look forward to now. It’s unusual to be playing the same team two weeks in a row but it will be a different set of circumstances and a different challenge. It will be a special day.”
The two sides meet again next weekend at Hampden in the League Cup semi-final.
Hampden is a big park and with no game on it for months it should be In fantastic condition with the other final on Sunday Celtic_fc_1888 play there game on it first since they have played semis in hampden it’s the first time Celtic_fc_1888 get a chance to play on it first I hope and no excuse for perfect pitch and vast playing area that should suit Celtic_fc_1888 I can see an all record score for a semi final Willie column gets his prize semi final for poor decisions at ipox so expect ⁹ to be giving foul at every contact break play up no advatge let Kilmarnock waste as much time just ruin game but Celtic-FC_1888 have had this in every league game and still win Kilmarnock will be running on fumes after 60 defiantly 70mins they tried man mark mcgregor but that gave hiata to step up in second half mcgregor marker was exhausted if the same method done on sat at hampden won’t last the first half