Ange Postecoglou explains his Celtic team selection tonight as big players sit on bench

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Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou wasn’t interested in entertaining the thought that tonight has a weakened starting eleven going up against Bodo/Glimt.

Postecoglou left a number of key players on the bench tonight including Callum McGregor, Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Many observers have noted it looks suspiciously like he is conceding ground in the UEFA Europa Conference League in order to prioritise Sunday’s Scottish Premiership clash away to Hibernian.

However, the Celtic boss insists he fielded an eleven he felt could win the tie tonight.

Speaking on BT Sport ESPN pre-match, Postecoglou said: “For us it is just about approaching the game how we do every game – that’s the beauty about playing football the way we do, we try and win every game, we try and score goals every game and that’s what we have to do today.

“We’ve done that home and away, that’s the approach we take so nothing really changes we just go into tonight and take it to a really good opposition.

“It’s the reason we bought players in January – to have a strong squad. We kinda got through the first half of the year but we had a lot of injuries.

“The guys I’m bringing in today have the energy, the enthusiasm and determination to do well and they’ll get an opportunity. Every time I pick a team I think will win us the tie and that’s what we go with today.”

At the interval, it’s been a poor Celtic performance. You would expect more from a Postecoglou team regardless of who is in the line-up.

And I don’t think the manager will ever admit it, but it’s pretty clear tonight’s team was quite as strong as it could have been.

Your mileage will vary on whether you agree with the heavy rotation or not. I’m a bit divided myself. I would have liked us to have a proper go with our full-strength team tonight, the opportunity was there to get back into the two-legged tie even at 3-1 down.

However, you can’t really blame Postecoglou for ensuring his most important players are fresh and ready for the challenge of Easter Road this weekend.

Could we have gone for both? Perhaps. But maybe the squad isn’t quite where the manager needs it to be.

In other news, English Premier League boss credits Celtic for player development.