The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Postecoglou’s Old Firm debut ends in defeat at Ibrox
RANGERS 1
CELTIC 0
Ange Postecoglou admits he should have started Kyogo Furuhashi through the middle following Celtic’s 1-0 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox.
The Japanese striker had scored seven goals in nine appearance for the Hoops ahead of the first Old Firm derby of the season, but was pushed wide to accommodate Odsonne Edouard.
The French striker missed a first-half sitter before Filip Helander headed past keeper Joe Hart in the 67 th minute.
The Celtic manager responded to the goal by bringing on midfielders Ismaila Soro and Tom Rogic for David Turnbull and Edouard, with Furuhashi moving to the centre where he caused some trouble.
Asked about the double substitution, Postecoglou said: “I just thought the game would open up. I thought Tommy would give us a bit of a spark and I thought Kyogo would have been much more of a threat down the middle.
“To be honest, I thought I should have started him there to begin with.
“But with (James) Forrest out we are short in the wide areas at the moment so I had to start with him out wide on the left.
“I knew with his speed getting Kyogo in the middle was going to cause them problems.”
In an open game played in front of no away fans, Furuhashi set up Edouard six yards from goal in the first half, but the ball came off the striker’s ankle before speeding wide.
Former Australia boss Postecoglou said: “The first goal makes a difference.
“If we had scored that then it changes the complexion of the game, puts them under a bit more pressure.
“They are the big moments. It didn’t work out for us today.
“It is disappointing in a tight game that when we could have taken a foothold in it we didn’t.”
Edouard has been linked with Rubin Kazan, Bordeaux and Everton among others, but asked if it could have been his last game for the club, Postecoglou said: “I don’t know, but I’ll be pretty happy to get to the end of the window to be fair so I know who’s here and who’s not.
“It’s been a hugely challenging period, there’s no doubt about that.
“You have players coming in and we have been throwing them in. There is uncertainty over who is going to stay.
“It was always going to be a challenging month for us. I will be happy to get to Tuesday and know the players we have got in the building are the ones who are committed to us.”
The Ibrox men had been struck by Covid-19 problems ahead of their successful Europa League play-off tie against Alashkert on Thursday.
Manager Steven Gerrard, Allan McGregor, Jon McLaughlin, James Tavernier, Scott Wright, Calvin Bassey and Ryan Kent all missed that game, but the latter had reportedly been injured and he came back in to the side.
Assistant manager Gary McAllister said: “You know as well as I do we’ve had a real tough four or five days.
“Loads of stuff happening around the club, around the players, around the staff – but you saw a coming together of a football club, a big football club.
“Right from the very top, the chairman, to the people who help us at the training ground and I’ve got to say, the fans were pretty special as well.
“It was an open game and we were fortunate to come out the winners – but that was more
like it.”