Ange Postecoglou has warned his Celtic stars to get more clinical. The Parkhead boss is adamant his champions can’t be lulled into thinking they can afford to be wasteful due to the vast volume of chances that they create.
Postecoglou was pleased to see his team begin the defence of their Premiership crown with a flag-day triumph over Aberdeen. But the Australian manager was clearly disappointed with aspects of the performance and a lack of a lethal edge in periods during the 2-0 success.
Postecoglou admitted his team could have been punished on another day and has made it clear they need to sharpen up in the weeks ahead. He said: “It was a solid performance, but we were just wasteful in front of goal. I was disappointed because I thought we could have been a lot more clinical with the chances we created. If we’d taken them we could have put the game well to bed.
“Sometimes you can fall into the trap of knowing we will create loads of opportunities and because of that you are not as focused as you should be. My view is we are creating opportunities, so let’s take as many as we can.
“I thought we started the game really well and the first half hour were really good. The last 15 minutes of the first half we got slack with our passing and not as aggressive with our press on the ball.
“We let the game be more open than it should have been, which was disappointing. I thought after the break we got control again and we finished strongly. It was a decent workout. Our movement was good and our passing was good.
“But, we could have had more chances if we made better decisions in the final third. You can’t just dismiss the last 15 minutes of the first half. There are lessons in there as other teams may punish you in that period.”
Postecoglou could have given his troops an out with it being their first game of the competitive season. But, when asked if the clinical edge would come with more rhythm, he continued: “The season has started. I don’t buy into that. We’ve goalscorers all over the park, so we need to be focused in all aspects of our game.”
Portuguese ace Jota agreed with his manager that there were aspects of the performance which could have been improved on and said the team are intent on getting it right. He explained: “I think we started well, intense and pressing good. Then we had a sloppy moment, but we got back on it and I think this is the way football works.
“We can never be 100 per cent every game. We want to be, but there will be moments when we won’t be as good. But we just have to keep our minds straight, have a nice mentality, and get back on track.
“That’s what we aim for and, hopefully, every game we will be better and better. Imagine a person having a normal job and not wanting to be better every day? I cannot even find the funny side to that.
“Everyone in this place right now wants to be better. I want to be a better person and a better footballer. So, every time I go on the pitch I just try to do better. We work during the week for that as well, so I think throughout the season we’ll just get better.”
Jota’s wonder goal 15 minutes from time sealed the win after Stephen Welsh had headed them into a third-minute lead. The young defender had interest in him from French outfit Toulouse booted into touch as the boss insisted he has a crucial role to play with the Hoops.
Welsh proved his manager spot on with a clean sheet and his goal and Postecoglou was delighted with the Scotland Under-21 captain. He said: “They’re all important. In pre-season we knew Carl [Starfelt] was going to be out for a major part of it and Moritz [Jenz] came in very late.
“Welshy and Cam [Carter-Vickers] have had to carry the load and it was important that they both had a strong pre-season and were coming in in good form. Welshy has done well. Again, I thought him and Cam did what they had to do.
“At times we didn’t help them, particularly in possession, with some of the options that we gave them. But defensively I thought they were strong.”
Postecoglou’s team were able to send the fans home happy after their day had started by seeing captain Callum McGregor unfurl the flag from last term’s title triumph. He said: “The crowd were unbelievable. Around the stadium, You’ll Never Walk Alone was unbelievable.”
Postecoglou’s only concern was seeing Reo Hatate take a couple of painful second-half blows before he was replaced by David Turnbull. Asked if the Japanese was fine, he said: “I think so. He copped a couple of hard knocks, to be fair, and he was a bit sore after the game. I haven’t seen my medical crew.”
