ANGE LAMENTS MEN ‘ACCEPTING FATE’ IN SECOND-HALF SURRENDER
POSTECOGLOU has built his Celtic revolution on the motto ‘We Never Stop’. It is the fact that his much-changed side gave up the ghost during the second half of a torrid three-goal beating in the Old Firm maelstrom that hurt him most at Ibrox.
The Greek-Australian saw his side respond well to going one-nil down to a Todd Cantwell goal on five minutes and push hard for an equaliser, with Hyeongyu Oh hitting the post in his second first-team start.
However, with John Souttar having doubled the home side’s advantage before the break, they failed to threaten anywhere close to enough in the second 45 and that came as a real letdown for the relentless Postecoglou, irrespective of the fact his men entered the encounter having already wrapped up the league.
Asked if that apparent acceptance of the result was the biggest disappointment, he replied: ‘Yeah. They are human beings and they have had an outstanding season.
‘We had the euphoria of winning the title last week and it is kind of weird winning it and you are having to play away again. You don’t really get a chance to sort of appreciate the moment, but welcome to Celtic. That’s the expectation. That’s not going to change.
‘In the second half, I just felt we almost accepted our fate rather than sort of going out there to try and change the course of the game.
‘It was a disappointing performance and a disapppointing result.
There were a couple of moments of the first half when we really should have scored and at least taken some of that momentum out of the game. We never got that foothold.
‘Second half, we never really made an impact. There was a bit of desperation about us trying to get into the game. Just sort of playing out football.’
Postecoglou felt South Korean striker Oh, signed for £2.5million in January from Suwon Samsung Bluewings, should have scored in the seventh minute when being sent clean through by Liel
Abada and clipping an effort off the face of the post when one-on-one with Robby McCrorie.
And he has urged the towering 22-year-old to take a leaf out of the book of Kyogo Furuhashi, who
replaced him just after the hour, when reflecting on his overall performance and working on aspects to improve upon.
‘It is a big moment,’ said Postecoglou of Oh’s early chance. ‘They were up for it, the crowd were up for it and they get a goal. If we could hit back straight away, it takes a bit of the momentum out of them.
‘The big man probably should have put it away. He hits the post, so it wasn’t far off. I think it is a bit of a learning experience for him as well. When he looks at someone like Kyogo, he misses goals too, but it doesn’t affect him afterwards.
‘He is still running his socks off for the team.’
Oh was one of five players in Postecoglou’s starting XI that would not be termed natural first-choices, but the manager was keen not to look for excuses.
‘It does change things when you make changes, but, at the same time, it is an opportunity for guys,’ he said. ‘It is a tough place to get an opportunity, but it is not the first time I have done that in terms of giving guys debuts in these games.
‘They just need to understand this is what this football club is all about. This is the expectation. You don’t get an easy ride. You don’t get a cushy sort of introduction into life as a Celtic footballer.
‘It is demanding from the moment you put on the shirt until the moment you leave.
‘It wasn’t just about the guys who came in.
‘Obviously, the changes didn’t help, but the general performance level wasn’t good enough.
‘It is not about being critical. It’s just about the expectations of this football club.
‘When you represent it, as a player and a manager, you are expected to win every week.
‘There is no mystery around that.’