Ange Postecoglou hailed Carl Starfelt’s scruffy comeback strike as the ugliest yet most-significant of Celtic’s Rugby Park romp.
The Swedish defender celebrated his long-awaited return from a two-month injury lay-off to score his first-ever club goal as the champions ran riot in Ayrshire. Starfelt missed a chunk of pre-season having sustained a serious hamstring issue on international duty in June.
However, on his first appearance in over two months, the 27-year-old enjoyed a moment to cherish as he stabbed home the fourth in a 5-0 win after replacing Moritz Jenz in the second period. Postecoglou was able to savour a slick move which led to Kyogo Furuhashi’s opener. He was able to applaud the brilliance of Jota’s magnificent long-range effort for the second.
Jenz took acclaim for one overhead kick before his knock at the third and Giorgos Giakoumakis produced an even better one in the closing stages to seal the deal with a spectacular fifth. But Postecoglou reckons it was Starfelt’s scrappy goal at the second attempt at the far post from a Matt O’Riley set-piece which held his most sway on his day.
He said: “I am really pleased for him to get a goal he has been trying really hard. It was probably the ugliest of the five, but probably the most significant! Carl has worked really hard in rehab. He was really frustrated after such a strong season for us last year and then he went away on international duty and got injured and missed pretty much all of the pre-season for us.
“He has worked really hard to get himself back to a position where he is available again. Credit to him, he is a really good pro. He comes in every day and works really hard in training and he’s a really strong team-mate.”
Postecoglou had every reason to be purring at the performance of his team as they smashed their newly-promoted hosts. Celtic had separate scorers for the third successive Premiership game as they put five on the board against Derek McInnes’ team to return to the top of the table. It was a display of clinical finishing and Postecoglou is delighted by the spread of goals.
He said: “We want to have multiple threats, it’s not about one person being the focal point of our scoring opportunities and avenues. We are getting centre backs chipping in which is also good. We just want to be a team that can hurt teams in many different ways. I thought the quality of our goals were excellent and the quality of our general play attacking-wise was good.”
Postecoglou’s troops again showed their talents across the park with a host of top-class performers. As well as the starters, there were more big contributions from subs such as Giakoumakis, Starfelt and Liel Abada.
The boss said: “I think it is important. Not just for these games, but I think going forward. At the moment, we have this luxury of a game a week and we are trying to compensate for that by working really hard in training and credit to the players, the training levels are really high.
“So the guys who come on they don’t look like they haven’t been playing. They are in a group straight away and make an impact which is great. Look, they all want to play at the moment, they are all itching to start games and their training merits them starting, but I am kind of holding back the tide at the moment because I know once the games start they will all get an opportunity, they will all play. What’s important for us is that when they do get that opportunity they can contribute.”
Asked if everyone accepts that situation, Postecoglou continued: “Well, yes, they haven’t got much choice to be fair! It is the way it is. To me, behaviours speak more loudly than any kinds of words. I see how they are in training every day. And if someone can come into training and show me who the guys who are starting are and the ones who aren't then they are a better judge than me because everyone is at it every day and that helps us and will help us moving forward.”
Postecoglou was able to enjoy the day and also in a position to confirm that the injury sustained by Jenz which led to Starfelt’s appearance does not appear of long-term concern. He said: “I think he is okay. I’m not sure what the issue was. He was feeling something, but we had a look after the game and he seemed okay. It doesn’t seem like anything serious.”
Celtic’s away support was jubilant at full-time and the players and manager celebrated with them in trademark fashion after the full-time whistle. Postecoglou savoured the moment and said: “It was good. It looks like they have enjoyed themselves even prior to the game, and rightly so!
“It’s always good because this is a game where it can turn into a bit of an ugly game, you win it and it’s not memorable in any way. But we don’t want to miss opportunities to give our fans some special moments and this was one of those days. Some of our goals really pleased our fans and, for us, it’s a really important message in terms of us sticking to our football.”
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