ANGE: WE’LL GET BETTER &STRONGER
Celtic boss hopes that will be the case for the next two European games when they have Bayer Leverkusen and Ferencvaros at home.
Postecoglou said: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m disappointed we didn’t win and I’m disappointed the players didn’t get their rewards but it doesn’t deter my bullishness about where we’re heading.
“We’re just going to get stronger, there’s no doubt about that. Tonight, that’s our baseline against a very good opponent.
“We’ll get some players back who are going to help us absolutely, particularly to settle the team down a bit. We’ll be stronger.
“Hopefully over the next week to 10 days we’ll have three or four back.”
Captain Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi, James Forrest, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Greg Taylor, Liel Abada and Nir Bitton were some of the top stars missing.
Postecoglou admitted his first instinct is always to go out and attack.
He said: “Yeah, I’ve got mixed emotions. I’m really proud of the team and the football we played.
“The opposition are a good team, we’re away from home and the football was good. But they have some quality and there were periods of the game where they got momentum and some big goals. On the other side of that, we had other opportunities to go further ahead, so it’s disappointing the players didn’t get the rewards for the efforts they showed.
“I was really proud of the football we played and the efforts the players put in. We had some resilience to show irrespective of circumstances, we will be a certain kind of football team.
“We wanted to take the game to a good team and I don’t think there was much between the sides.”
Celtic’s defensive woes cost them dearly in Seville.
But Postecoglou said: “Tony Ralston has been outstanding but he’s missed a few games. It was Cameron (Carter-Vicker)’s second game, Carl (Starfelt) has just come in this year. It’s Josip’s (Juranovic) third or fourth game. It’s going to take time for us to get that understanding.
“I see in them a desire to get better and improve and that’s the most important thing.”
Celtic’s top performers were at the top end of the pitch. Jota, in particular, shone like a beacon.
His manager added: “It’s still a team learning to play together. We’re throwing players in but Jota was outstanding. He posed a threat all night.”
Betis boss Manuel Pellegrini believed there was only going to be one outcome when they pulled it back to 2-2. He said: “We played a big team in Europe. The first 25 minutes were our worst but we were able to solve it.”