Ange Postecoglou delivers telling media criticism that could light a new fire under Celtic

By John McGinley

December 23, 2022

Ange Postecoglou did not hold back with his media comments this week, reflecting on Celtic’s 2-1 win over Livingston on Wednesday.

While the Bhoys boss was happy with the three points, he was critical of the team’s attacking play, particularly those whose bread and butter is arriving on balls into the box.

Celtic should really have picked up the win by a bigger margin despite Livingston’s defensive play and Postecoglou wants his players to be far sharper moving forward.

As quoted by The Daily Record, he said: “We still created chances, but those numbers should be greater if we got on the end of things. It’s unacceptable. We work on it constantly, so players know they should be in that area.

“It’s not clinical, it’s just being disciplined and being in those areas. We created good chances, but people in the box weren’t doing their jobs. Balls flashed across the goal, but people weren’t there. It’s disappointing because we work on that constantly.

“We’ve had a lot of success playing that way, so when it doesn’t happen, I get frustrated because there’s no reason we shouldn’t do it. It’s not anticipation because we know what’s going to happen. We work on it constantly. People said last week we’ve scored 200 goals and a lot have been like that.

“Maybe it’s human nature and people maybe think there are other ways to score. I was disappointed we didn’t take advantage of the chances we created.”

Postecoglou picks his moments in the media. He’s rarely so critical of the players but clearly he is sending a message that some in the team need to up their game despite sitting nine points ahead at the top of the table.

Now isn’t the time for complacency and the manager knows that. This reminder of the high standards needed can hopefully light a new fire under the team and push them on to the attacking heights we know they are capable of.

Big matches against St Johnstone, Hibernian and Rangers over the next 10 days are far from a guaranteed clean sweep. We need to be at the top of our game heading into the new year. Only that will deliver nine huge points.

In other news, Callum Davidson reflects on torturous Celtic experience ahead of St Johnstone visit.