Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou rued his side's "negative" approach which cost them dear in their Champions League crunch with Leipzig – as skipper Callum McGregor faces a major injury worry.
The 57-year-old could barely contain his frustration on multiple occasions as he watched his team come up short on a sobering 3-1 defeat in Germany. He pinpointed his team's insistence on going backwards with the ball as their downfall. Postecoglou also appeared to absolve Joe Hart of sole responsibility for his clanger as he called into question his team's approach.
Celtic created multiple chances but also were the beneficiaries of two goals being ruled out by VAR during the 3-1 defeat to Leipzig. And the Australian is tasked with seeking a remedy before the teams square off in six days' time. Speaking on BT Sport, the Celtic boss said: "Disappointed in the outcome, the defeat. First half, even we were 1-0 down, I thought we created some good chances, they were a threat on the counter attack, but I thought we were just as dangerous going the other way.
"After we scored, we kind of went into our shells a bit with our possession, got a bit negative with our passing, passing it back too often, really disappointed with the second goal because that was the crucial goal we conceded, and changed the course of the game.
"They are a good counter-attacking team, that is what they kind of prey on, they have some quality players who can hurt you, the second goal was self inflicted, we were just too negative with our passing and kept going back to Joe for no reason, under no pressure. We almost invited them to get on top of us. You give them a second goal, away from home, it makes it a difficult task.
The Celtic boss reinforced his belief that his team can win at the top level but wants his charges to truly believe in their remaining games. He added: "There's no reason why we can't keep doing that, a lot of it is just experience at this level, guys believing that they belong, guys believing they can achieve success at this level/
"It's not easy translate that into people when they are out there. There's a lesson there for us tonight, we know when we are aggressive and play our football we can cause anyone problems. when we are not, it's going to be very hard for us to be successful."
Postecoglou admits it's looking ominous for his skipper after he was forced off in the first half in Germany. The Celtic boss is seeking a definitive answer from his medical staff but admits there's real fears over the severity of McGregor's injury.
He added: "It doesn't look good, we were a bit unlucky with the goal., he (McGregor) was about to have a shot and something happened between his knee, he put an enormous effort to chase back and it was his toe poke which put the guy through. Looking at him, it doesn't look good, but I will see what the doctor says."
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