WITH the greatest of respect to the current Celtic squad, Joe Hart has been part of more talented groups. Perhaps none more so than when he was at Manchester City, where he eventually kept goal for a side that made it all the way to the semi-finals of the competition.
That progress did not, however, happen overnight. Hart recalls some bruising experiences for that star-studded group of players against the likes of Barcelona and even CSKA Moscow before they finally found their feet in the competition.
So, he is not surprised in the slightest that Celtic have had to take a few dull ones this season as they attempt to acclimatise themselves at Champions League level, and neither is he discouraged by it.
In fact, the level of performance they have managed to produce tells him that they aren’t quite as far away from competing against the best teams in Europe as the Group F standings might have you believe.
“When we first started at City we weren’t full of Champions League experience,” Hart said. “Maybe a little bit more than we have here.
“But it’s not about the club itself. Celtic does and will belong here. You have to look at the squads and who has played at this level.
“We are relatively new to it. That’s not an excuse, we certainly don’t hide behind it and the club don’t expect a bedding in period. You want to be at the top, you want to be fighting and beating the best.
“I don’t think it’s anything apart from falling the wrong side of a couple of results.
“I don’t think anyone who’d been to the games, opposition managers and so on, would have been surprised if we were going in to match day five with a chance of winning the group or sealing the second place.
“There’s a huge difference from being in a game to actually winning a game at this level. That’s been evident here. We’ve been in all four games and put in strong performances.
“There’s just been some small moments where experience has helped these sides manage through difficult patches a little bit better than we have and been more clinical when they’ve had moments of being on top.
“It’s fun being part of this competition but you always want the ultimate goal. It’s tough. The semi-final is the furthest I’ve got and I enjoyed that run. You just need to live in it rather than set any boundaries or targets.
“What’s the point when the sky’s the limit? You are part of a team that wants to get bigger and better.”
Hart is fully convinced by the mantra preached by manager Ange Postecoglou that full commitment to his philosophy is the path to achieving that improvement.
“It’s pretty powerful, it really is,” he said. “He gives us a lot of belief and we work every day to play a certain way with a certain energy.
“Why compromise? It’s 11 against 11 plus the subs. We believe if we play to our principles we have as good a chance as anyone.
“Look, we would much prefer to emerge [from the group] but at the same time if we were getting the victories we would want to feel we had done it with what we are trying to do and what we are working on.
“I think that gives us a better sense of direction and purpose. We are all in this for the long term, trying to create something.
“The manager is not trying to create something here for any other reason than doing it this way will bring success to this club.”
Despite conceding 10 goals in their four group games so far, Hart doesn’t accept that the strict adherence to Postecoglou’s attacking style is leaving them unduly open at the back.
“We are slightly vulnerable but any team with any way of playing is exposed,” he said.
“Even if you were to park eight people behind the ball, the pressure is going to increase and increase and increase. We try to do our pressure and our eight man defending really high and get the job done.
“The transition in the Champions League is a tough one to play against because of the speed and intelligence of teams that you are playing against. But we have also seen a low block unpicked many, many times.
“Teams can get really hurt playing the low block. There are teams that have specialised in it over the years, Atletico Madrid spring to mind. But for them to do that, that’s not something they just do for the Champions League.
“Just like we work, they would work on that every day. That’s their identity. That’s what they do. That’s what they believe in and that’s why they get results. That’s why us doing what we do constantly we feel will get us results.”
