THE LUCK STOPS WITH YOU

Cursed Ange has a nightmare few weeks to come

ANGE POSTECOGLOU looked like a man with the weight of the world after the game on Thursday night.

No wonder. His post-match interview following the Raith win just screamed of a guy thinking, ‘Give me a break’. Postecoglou could sure do with one. It’s important for Celtic fans to keep the faith with the manager. He has certainly improved the side from last season, even if they are still way short of where he wants the squad to be.

But you cannot deny he’s been dealt an incredibly difficult hand in his three months in charge.

It’s been issue after issue for him and he’s been left fire fighting on a weekly basis.

Postecoglou hasn’t been helped by the fact he was late in the door in the door and that had a huge knock-on effect on new signings.

I can understand why he’s feeling a bit cursed when it comes to the recent injury problems.

Celtic are missing so many key players at a time when the manager needs all hands on deck.

The next few weeks could be a nightmare if he doesn’t get some bodies back.

It’ll be hard enough against a decent Dundee United side at Celtic Park tomorrow, but I’ll looking down the line at Bayer Leverkusen next week and it’s impossible not to have concerns.

The Germans are a proper team and they could inflict some damage if they click in to gear. There are hazardous trips to Aberdeen and Motherwell on the horizon where all the talk will be about Celtic’s woeful away record.

So I’m not surprised Postecoglou is looking like a man who’s lost a tenner and found a fiver.

He’s had so much to deal with in his short time in charge it’s bound to have worn him down.

Kyogo Furuhashi comes in and lights up the place – and then gets injured.

Callum McGregor takes his game to another level since being handed the captain’s armband – and then gets ruled out.

He’s not been able to call on trusted campaigners such as James Forrest, his main left-back in Greg Taylor gets crocked, plus there has been issues with Covid.

Now his deadline-day striker signing gets injured in the warm-up before he’s about to make his debut.

He’s had so much to deal with that it’s bound to worn have him down

It’s been a never-ending run of misfortune for the boss.

In fact, it’s probably a minor miracle Celtic are only four points behind Rangers in the league, in the group stage of the Europa League and the last four of the Premier Sports Cup.

But the bad news is, it doesn’t get any easier.

The Giorgos Giakoumakis news on Thursday probably summed it all up. We were working at the game and were wondering where the Greek forward had got to in the second half. He had been out warming up earlier on but was absolutely nowhere to be seen after the break.

When it went to 3-0 and Raith went down to 10 men, it looked the ideal time to get him on and give him some vital minutes.

But nothing is going to plan for Postecoglou.

He had to take Albian Ajeti off as he’s the only striker left and while winger Jota was impressive all night, he was less effective when he went in to a central role.

There just are not enough options for the manager right now as his squad is light in every single department.

We saw the problems at the back earlier in the season, now it’s in the forward areas. I have concerns about the midfield as well. McGregor is a massive loss in there.

Some of the criticism of James McCarthy at Livingston at the weekend was OTT but he responded with a decent performance against Raith.

He clearly needs games but he’s ability shouldn’t be questioned.

The worry is there’s a lot being put on Tom Rogic and David Turnbull but those two are playmakers rather than dynamic midfield workers.

I said at the start of the season this could be a bumpy ride and it’s already been the case.

There would have been blips even with everyone fit, never mind with so many key men on the sidelines.

Livingston was a shocker at the weekend but shouldn’t have come as a surprise. There will be more of those kinds of days to come as it’s simply going to take the manager time and a few transfer windows to properly build his squad. McGregor will be back soon, Christopher Jullien is on the way and Kyogo has resumed training now. This is a brutally hard period for Postecoglou, who is due an upturn in fortunes.