“The way we play is not easy for any centre-backs,” Postecoglou praises Starfelt and Carter Vickers

Ange Postecoglou accepts that he threw both Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers in at the deep end, with both central defenders being asked to go straight into the starting eleven at Celtic pretty much as soon as they arrived at the club.

And the Australian is the first to admit that playing as a central defender in a team playing his aggressive, offensive style of football is tougher than elsewhere. Yet the Celtic manager is delighted with the progress that both players are making and reckons that the best is yet to come from both of them.

Starfelt in particular was in danger of becoming a whipping Bhoy, the player who gets to blame for most things that go wrong in the team. The Swedish international defender arrived in Glasgow two days ahead of the season opener against Hearts, had press duties the next day along with one training session lasting about an hour and then played at Tynecastle probably without knowing the names of all his teammates.

“I felt for Carl because we threw him in,” the Celtic manager admitted yesterday. Speaking to the mainstream media, as reported Daily Record, Postecoglou added: “He had different centre-back partners in the early stages and he was new to the club himself. People were kind of judging him on what they saw but I knew there was more in him and I still think there’s more again.

“We signed Cam (Cameron Carter Vickers) on deadline day then virtually threw him into the first team. But he is a really calm character and mature beyond his years. Even though he’s fairly young he’s settled into the club really well and the key thing for the two of them is they want to learn, they want to improve.

“Every week they are sitting down with the coaches and doing the analysis and they are getting confidence from that. The way we play is not easy for any centre-backs,” Postecoglou admitted. “We ask a lot of them. We ask them to be playing out from the back then to squeeze up and be aggressive with our defending.

“It’s a lot easier to be playing centre-back in other teams, I can guarantee you. But they’ve tackled it and we know there’s more to come from both of them. Joe’s experience helps.

“We’ve shown faith in them and I’ve said to them all along if something happens out on the pitch and it doesn’t work out then I’m accountable for it, not them. I’m not going to judge them on what happens in the first part of their Celtic careers.

“What is important for me is they’re continually looking to learn and understand how we want to play our football. If I see that I keep encouraging them and that has been happening.”

Earlier in the season Stephen Welsh and even Dane Murray were playing and both are ready to go when needed. Did you notice Kyogo celebrating with Welsh and the other substitutes on Tuesday? And the imminent return of Christopher Jullien expends the manager’s options in these central defensive positions further but Starfelt and Carter Vickers are the men in possession of the jerseys.

“They are two good players but we also have Stevie (Welsh) who was very good when he played earlier in the season and is ready to come into the team at any time. We rate him highly,” the Celtic manager added. “We have got young Dane Murray who did well, we have Chris (Jullien) who is coming back. So it’s not about locking down a couple of people.

“We want to create a strong squad and be competitive all over the park. But with centre-back partnerships the more settled you are, the more understanding they have, it helps. It’s good those two have got a run of games together.”