Bhoys plan to ‘address’ Boyd’s mask comments

comments and yesterday released a statement which read: ‘With regards to comments made by former professional footballer Kris Boyd concerning Callum McGregor’s injury, we can confirm the matter is being addressed by the club.’

Last night, Boyd sought to play down his remarks and said he did not mean to insinuate that Van Bronckhorst’s players should have tried to hurt McGregor.

He said: ‘Some have taken that line to mean I wanted one of the Rangers players to intentionally try and hurt the midfielder. However, that is absolutely and unequivocally not the case. It was simply meant as a criticism of the Rangers players for their failure to get close to McGregor.’

Speaking after the victory, McGregor said he would continue wearing the mask while playing until the injury fully heals.

Manager Ange Postecoglou believes the sacrifices made by McGregor (below) and Daizen Maeda typified the desire of his squad to go top of the Premiership by beating Rangers.

Maeda managed 28 minutes of the derby from the bench, having also come on as a substitute just the previous day as Japan beat Saudi Arabia in Saitama.

And Postecoglou believes the pair’s willingness to play in a game they could have sat out is reflective of the character of the players who now sit on top of the league for the first time this season.

‘I think it sums up the group,’ said the Australian. ‘They are determined to be successful and they will do whatever it takes.

‘Because what we know is that success doesn’t come easy. You have to make sacrifices, you have to put yourself out there at times when you’re not 100 per cent, because that’s the nature of sport.

‘When you’ve got a leader like Callum doing that, then there’s no excuses for anyone else, because he’s not just talking the talk, he’s walking it as well and that’s inspiring.

‘The same goes for Daizen. I would have accepted it if both those guys weren’t part of Wednesday night because of their situations, but it was a short conversation.

‘They just said: “No, we really want to be involved”, so it’s a credit to both of them.

‘That’s the environment we try to encourage every day, because sometimes even in training you come in and you’re not buzzing, you’re not feeling 100 per cent.

‘But you can’t train the way we do unless you give everything, so the players suck it up, they get out there and they go for it.

‘They get encouraged by their team-mates and that’s the environment we want to see.’

Having endured a troubled start to his tenure by losing three of his first six league games, Postecoglou has subsequently improved Celtic to the point where they have now gone 22 domestic games unbeaten.

Already winners of the Premier Sports Cup, Wednesday’s victory took them to the top of the table for the first time since the manager took charge.

But while Postecoglou allowed himself a few hours to reflect on a devastating display by his side, his focus returned to tomorrow’s trip to Motherwell.

‘It was obviously a good night,’ he added. ‘The whole experience, from the atmosphere created by our supporters to understanding the consequences of the result against the opposition we were playing… the most important thing was our performance.

‘I got home but didn’t sleep for quite a while. You want to digest it all and understand it all from a football perspective. Because you need to get up the next day and get on with the next one.

‘It’s the nature of football and the nature of my personality. I like moving on quickly because, if that was special, I want to start work on the next special one.’ Although Celtic have the form to go with a narrow lead at the top of the table, Postecoglou is

wary of the dangers that lie in assuming that his side have the upper hand in the title race.

‘It’s important to understand the expectations don’t drop after the game,’ he said. ‘It’s the relentlessness of the expectation the players need to get their heads around.

‘Wednesday night was another step — it’s not the final destination.’

Tom Rogic is back in contention to feature at Fir Park having returned from international duty with Australia, with Nir Bitton also available after serving a onegame suspension.