Ange Posstecoglou insists he's adopting a vow of silence on VAR decisions after Celtic 's comeback win over Ross County.
The Hoops boss refused to be dragged into yet another controversial handball decision which allowed the Staggies to take the lead from the spot before his side fought back to move nine points clear of Rangers in the title race. Referee David Munro pointed to the spot after the ball struck Matt O'Riley's hand and a penalty was confirmed by his video assistant but Postecoglou hinted that he always knew his side would have to outscore the Highland club.
Strikes by David Turnbull and Sead Haksabanovic racked up an eighth consecutive league success but the Australian has pledged to keep his thoughts on the game's spot-kick flashpoint to himself as he praised his players for showing the recovery resolve on the back of a marathon fixture spell. He said: "Look, I’ve already said that me talking about it the last two weeks has done a disservice to my football club.
"It’s best I don’t really talk about it any more. The only way they were going to score today was a penalty and they got it, so, from our perspective, we just have to make sure we score more goals than the opposition.’
"I am just really proud of the players. They are an outstanding group of players. The quality is there, but the strength of character is just outstanding.
"We’ve had 13 games in something like 42 days. Champions League takes a lot out of you with the travel and to be perfect in the league through that time is just a brilliant effort. We were really focused and strong and not deterred by anything.
"This was always going to be a challenge for us, as I think it has been for every football club in a similar situation. Whether that’s in Scotland or other places where people have European football combined with league football. Much as I love the character of this team there’s some fantastic footballers in there too.”
Celtic will now head off to Australia for the Sydney Super Cup due to a five week shutdown and players being on World Cup duty in Qatar and Postecoglou believes his squad will resume far stronger for a title race which he also played down as one with plenty left to run. He said: "Where we are in terms of points in relation to other clubs is not the important bit. It is how we are performing and how we are dealing with things, the challenges. It has been a really strong start to the season, but we are less than halfway through and there is a lot of football to be played.
"We are going to see a lot of growth when the league resumes in our players after what they have been through. Matty and Reo Hatate have pretty much played every game. When Cal McGregor went down, there were big shoes to fill. He is an influential figure, an outstanding footballer, and those two relatively young guys have done that. They will come out of this much better footballers. When we come back the schedule, even though it’s busy, is nowhere near as hectic. And we’re going to see the benefits of that.”
Postecoglou also praised the support for not hitting the panic button when they fell behind. He said: "You can sense it even with our supporters now. No one panics. The players know what they need to do and they really believe in themselves. I think the opposition sense it as well that we are not going to yield at any point.
"I am pretty fortunate. I have a fantastic group of players with real quality and outstanding character. It is outstanding that they continue to rise to every challenge."
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