Ange Postecoglou has admitted to a real sense of frustration at the stop-start nature of Celtic’s goalless draw with Hibs yesterday, caused by Hibs tactics of slowing the game down, with a Bodo/Glimt inspired series of time-wasting incidents exhibited by Shaun Maloney’s Hibs side.
It’s understandable that opposition managers will look to inspiration from Celtic’s European opponents, after all they negated Celtic’s fast approach to games and were clever in the way they did so, particularly during the first leg in Glasgow where the physio appeared to put in as many hard yards as the players did, and Hibs certainly learned from that as they took a similar approach yesterday.
And as reported by Fox Sports Australia, Ange certainly doesn’t like it but realises it’s something Celtic need to rise above.
“I’m not a fan of it. I get why teams do it, but what do you do? That’s part of football, that’s part of the challenge.”
Yet Postecoglou is not using that as any excuse. However, the manager is certainly not buying into the theory Celtic were not at the races in a disappointing game yesterday, instead much like his captain’s post-match comments, there appears no cause for alarm as he stated he was happy with the effort from the players and points to a continued belief in a footballing process that has seen a nine-point turnaround at the top of the table since the winter break.
“I’ve said all along, whether we were six points behind or three points ahead, we’re just going to run our own race and keep doing what we have been doing to get us in this position. We will continue to play our football that has got us into this position and make sure we keep our performance levels up.
“With that you’ll get the outcomes you want. I can’t question the players’ efforts or the way we played our football. From that perspective, I was happy. You come away from home and there are different ways of getting results. We want to be a team that dominates games. I thought we did that.
“We want to always be looking to try to be the aggressor, and it’s not easy always when teams sit so deep. Obviously, we had to find creative ways to try to create chances to get the goal we needed, but we didn’t.”
Ange Postecoglou and Callum McGregor are certainly singing from the same hymn sheet, and the message of believing in the process, although designed to ensure a consistent message is passed down to the players, it is clear it is also for supporters’ consumption too.
That said there is no room for pulling the wool over fans eyes here. Yesterday’s performance was far too pedestrian, lacked creativity and was worryingly lacking in sharpness in the final third. There may be no cause for alarm just yet, and the process Ange believes strongly in may well yield the results required, however momentum at this stage of the season seems to have been lost somewhat, and Celtic need to find their mojo again and quickly before dropped points impact on the impressive position Celtic have got themselves to. We won’t always be able to count on slip-ups from across the city.
Niall J
Starting to worry about Ange’s comments,especially after games, I like him but fed up with some of the same old,same old thing he comes out with. He’s complaining about the pitch now ,he’s complaining about the opposition ( successful) tactics,and is even blaming luck…..and all this is coming from someone who refuses to criticise.referees. Try influencing play from the side of the pitch Ange , ie in rel time not moaning after it.