Kid’s Wirtz weight in gold I believe road we have started on will get us there ..so we will just keep on going
Postecoglou won’t lose faith or belief in what he’s doing to turn round Celtic fortunes
LEVERKUSEN wonderkid Florian Wirtz created history ahead of their showdown with Celtic by smashing Lukas Podolski’s record of being the youngest player to score 10 goals in the Bundesliga as his side beat Mainz 1-0. Leverkusen skipper Lukas Hradecky said: “Florian was great. He is a young man capable of changing the game and he does that for us in almost every match.”
ANGE POSTECOGLOU admits he feels like a man being pushed towards an edge.
The Celtic manager is now left to hope the club’s supporters will take a leap of faith and stick by him as he vows to turn around his troubled team.
It’s clear the Greek-born Aussie faces a battle in the weeks ahead to keep those now having major doubts about his leadership onside.
Just seven league games into Postecoglou’s Parkhead tenure and Celtic’s title ambitions are already hanging by a thread.
They trail Rangers by six points and August’s swashbuckling displays seem a distant memory.
The doubters appeared to be won over when Postecoglou’s gung-ho brand produced 24 goals in the just six games last month.
Judging by the boos which echoed round the stadium at full-time yesterday, they’re having second thoughts after watching the Hoops spill points yet again.
The last seven games in all competitions have brought just two wins and the wriggle room he once had is narrowing – but Postecoglou is determined he won’t be the one heading for a high dive.
He said: “I know people are wanting to push me on some kind of edge of the ledge somewhere,.
“It’s just not going to happen. I look at how my team is playing and what we are trying to create.
“I know it frustrates people because I know what they want me to say... I don’t know what they want me to say to be honest.
“I know what the club is about, I know what the expectations are. I believe the road we have started on will get us there so we will just keep going.”
There may not be many rays of light amid the current doom and gloom over Parkhead but the brightest are beaming from widemen Jota and Liel Abada.
On-loan Benfica ace Jota provided not just the cross for his Israeli team-mate’s opener but also the only real show of desire to break down United’s resistance. Like David Turnbull and Tom Rogic, he hit the crossbar but also created a string of other opportunities.
Postecoglou paid tribute to the youngsters and said: “They were unbelievable.
“They are just starting their Celtic careers. Liel is 19 and this is Jota’s first crack at regular senior football.
“With that comes a responsibility but they were both outstanding and both could have had a couple of goals.”
Posteocglou was left cursing his luck this week when Giorgos Giakoumakis tweaked a calf in the warm up before Wednesday’s League Cup win over Raith.
He could be back for next week’s trip to Aberdeen but
the bad is Josip Juranovic is now a major doubt for Thursday’s Europa League visit of Bayer Leverkusen .
Postecoglou, who also had to replace James McCarthy at the break, said: “Josip felt his hamstring a little bit. We hope it isn’t too bad bug we’ll get him scanned and see how it goes.
“Giorgos’ scan came back more positive than we thought so we’re hoping he’ll get back into training this week which is good news.
“If Giakoumakis gets a full week of training we’re quite hopeful he’ll be ready for Aberdeen. We’ve just got to get through to the next international break.
“By then Giorgos should be available, while Kyogo Furuhashi isn’t too far away and so is Callum McGregor. James Forrest and Mikey Johnston will come back to help us, we’re hoping post international break.
“James McCarthy took a fair tackle early on and was feeling the effects so we thought we’d change it up at half time. We didn’t want to make it worse.”
The visit of a Leverkusen side currently sitting second in the
Bundesliga may not be what Celtic need right now but Tony Ralston hopes it helps his side regain their focus. He said: “We are disappointed we didn’t win but it’s a point on the board and now we have to focus on Thursday with another massive game coming up. “That’s our next focus now. We get back on to the training pitch and continue to work. “We’ve been a bit unfortunate with the injuries but no matter what the result is we stay positive as a group. “We’ll be going into training and putting the work in for a big game on Thursday.”