Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou declared the most egregious element of his side’s 3-0 loss to Rangers was that they seemed to give up in the encounter in the second period. Trailing 2-0 at the interval, the champions never at any stage thereafter looked like finding a way back into the with the
Australian suggesting that amounted to a deriliction of the duties that come with playing for the club. “In the second half, I just felt we almost accepted our fate rather than sort of going out there to try and change the course of the game,” said Postecoglou. “We had the euphoria of winning the title last week and it is kind of weird winning it and you are having to play away again. You don’t really get a chance to sort of appreciate the moment, but welcome to Celtic . That’s the expectation. That’s not going to change.” Postecoglou appeared to aim a specific rebuke at Oh Hyeon-gyu, who missed a glaring chance only three minutes after Todd Cantwell had given Michael Beale’s men a fourth-minute lead. The striker was one of the fringe players deployed on an afternoon as Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Greg Taylor started on the bench, while mainstays Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston were missing through injury. In the frontman and defenders Yuki Kobayashi – appearing at fault in both goals – and Alexandro Bernabei and the frontman, Celtic had understudies who did not rise to the occasion. Advertisement Advertisement “It was a big moment,” he said of the South Korean forward striking the post after he had touched the ball past keeper Robbie McCrorie. “They [Rangers] were up for it, the crowd were up for it and they get a goal. If we could hit back straight away, it takes a bit of the momentum out of them. The big man probably should have put it away. He hits the post, so it wasn’t far off. I think it is a bit of a learning experience for him as well. When he looks at someone like Kyogo, he misses goals too, but it doesn’t affect him afterwards. He is still running his socks off for the team. “It does when you change things [when you alter the team]. But at the same time, it is an opportunity for guys. It is a tough place to get an opportunity, but it is not the first time certainly I’ve done that and I’ve sometimes given guys debuts in these games. They just need to understand what this
Football club’s about, that’s the expectations. You don’t get an easy ride, you don’t get a cushy introduction into life as a footballer. It is demanding from the moment you put on a shirt to the moment you leave. It is fair to say it wasn’t just about the guys who came in. Obviously the changes didn’t help but I just thought the general performance, and the level of performance, wasn’t there. “It is not about being critical, it’s just about the expectations of this football club. When you represent it – as a player and a manager – you are expected to win every week. There is no mystery around that, so when you don’t, you have to accept that, try and understand it and embrace the expectations around it, and make sure it doesnt happen again. It’s not about me being critical it is just about making sure the players and everyone understand that is the expectations around this football club.”