Ange Postecoglou has given his thoughts on today’s 2-0 win over Hearts as Celtic moved two points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis secured the three points in a match that ebbed and flowed between excitement and frustration.
Ultimately Celtic were on top for the most part and Joe Hart was not troubled by the opposition, something that Postecoglou reflected on in his post-match comments.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland [17:10], he said: “I’m obviously pleased with the win but it was a game there was no real flow to. It was a lot of stopping and starting and hard to get tempo into it, some of it was our own doing.
“Through that, I thought we still maintained control of the game. Although it was 1-0 for a long time, we were never really threatened and Joe Hart didn’t have a save of significance to make. At the other end, I felt their ‘keeper made two or three good saves to keep them in the game.
“I haven’t made too many changes to the starting line-up but we’ve been working really hard with the squad. In every game, I think the subs have come on and made the impact we want them to make.
“For me, it’s as much about the performances. In all of the games, we’ve been in control for the most part. There are still areas we need to improve and we’ll keep working towards that. We’ve had some challenging games so far and we’ve dealt with them well.
“We’ve got another game next week that’s worth three points and that’s all we focus on. It is August.”
Postecoglou sounded like a focused individual who fully recognises part of today’s performance wasn’t the greatest. However, it’s hard to be too harsh on the players when Hearts never really looked like scoring.
Aaron Mooy, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Reo Hatate, three of the subs the manager alludes to, did indeed have a good impact and that bodes well moving forward too.
The match schedule is about to get a lot more hectic so it’s important the wider pool of players are looking just as hungry and impressive than recent regular starters.
Three points, top of the league and we move on to Tannadice in good shape.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou joins in with O’Riley praise of Gavin Strachan’s Celtic role.
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