ANGE Postecoglou has absolved his forwards from any blame for Celtic’s failure to qualify for the Champions League knockout rounds and expressed hope the experience his charges have gained in Europe’s premier club competition will result in a stark improvement up front in their final matches.
The Scottish champions performed well for long spells of their Group F game against RB Leipzig of Germany at Parkhead on Tuesday night – but they squandered several excellent scoring opportunities and ultimately paid a high price for their profligacy.
Timo Werner and substitute Emil Forsberg struck late on for Marco Rose’s team and the visitors recorded a 2-0 triumph to kill off their opponents’ prospects of finishing second in the section and reaching the last 16 for the fourth time in their history.
The encounter was virtually identical to the meetings with Real Madrid at home and Shakhtar Donetsk and Leipzig away; Celtic dominated proceedings at times but lacked a vital cutting edge in the final third.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and his team mates can still secure third spot and a place in the Europa League if they beat Shakhtar in Glasgow later this month and draw with or win against Real in Spain early next month.
Postecoglou is, despite his devastation at the cruel defeat to Leipzig, far from despondent.
The Greek-Australian coach is optimistic that Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Sead Haksabanovic, Jota, Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley will all have learned a great deal about competing with the cream of the continent in recent weeks and predicted that goals will come.
“You know at this level if you don’t take those opportunities it’s going to hurt you one way or another and that’s been the story of our campaign so far,” he said. “It has been a tale of missed opportunities. From my perspective, it’s disappointing for our fans and the players that they don’t get rewarded for their efforts.
“It is the hardest part of the game. It is why clubs spend hundreds of millions of dollars on players who do that. It’s not a case of sitting there and thinking ‘take your opportunities’. It is about experience, composure at this level. The fine lines and the stresses that are involved in playing at the highest level of club football.
“The experience can hopefully get your players to feel more comfortable in those situations. As I said, it is the most difficult part of football. For us, we have been unlucky too. We have hit the woodwork twice in the same sequence and on any other day they could go in.”
Japanese internationalist Maeda set the tone for another hugely frustrating evening for Celtic against Leipzig on Tuesday when he headed an Abada cross into the Leipzig penalty box just wide in the opening minute.
The winger cum striker has failed to net in the Champions League despite being involved in all four matches – but Postecoglou praised his £2m summer signing for his energetic all-round display and pledged to keep faith with him and his fellow forwards.
The former Yokohama F Marinos manager has been heartened by how his men have acquitted themselves against top class German, Spanish and Ukrainian sides in the Champions League even though they have only picked up a single point and is convinced they will get their rewards if they stick to their gameplan.
“It is just perseverance,” he said. “I know people look at the end product and he (Maeda) was a bit unlucky on a couple of occasions on Tuesday night. He does put in an enormous work-rate.
“We felt from last week their right hand side can be a threat going forward and I thought his defensive work was outstanding and that helps us as a team.
“But he’s got to learn the other side of the game which is really important in terms of finishing and the end product. He keeps getting into those positions. In every game he does, but goals are sort of eluding him. But again we can’t just sort of scrap him because he is not the finished product either.
“We have to persevere with all our players. Apart from Joe (goalkeeper Hart) you look at the rest of them age-wise and experience-wise and this is a massive jump for them. I am being really ambitious with the way I want us to play our football. That is going to be testing for them.
“But I am not discouraged by the way we are going. If anything I am encouraged to keep going down this road.”
Postecoglou added: “I said before the game, it’s just relentless and it is always going to be. You can play in this for 10 years and if you don’t take your opportunities, the opposition will. That will never change. That’s part of the process that the players have to embrace.
“In the league, sometimes you can get away with it. You don’t have to be always clinical and you can still win a game of football, as we did at the weekend when we weren’t clinical in front of goal but still found a way to win.
“That doesn’t exist in the Champions League and will never exist for us no matter how long we play in it. It will always come down to...if we are creating chances and not taking them then there will be quality in the other team which will punish you.”
Celtic were unfortunate not to beat Shakhtar in Poland last month - but Postecoglou knows they will have to be at their very best to get the victory they need to keep their bid to reach the Europa League knockout rounds alive against adversaries who drew with holders Real on Tuesday night.
“It’s important for the players, important for the club and it’s important for our supporters because they’ve been outstanding,” he said. “You want something from it.
“I can’t fault our endeavour or the way we’ve gone about it. Our mindset has been great, but ultimately, all of us want a reward along the way because it can accelerate the belief that already exists, so it’s an important game.
“It won’t be an easy game. Shakhtar have shown already how good a team they are and they have aspirations of going through, so it won’t be easy for us.”
