"If people expect 61 perfect performances..."; Ange launches big defence of his Celtic team

By David Walton

March 2, 2022

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has launched a hefty defence of his team despite recent poor performances.

The Hoops have hit a bit of a slump in terms of their displays on the park. Celtic have won only 1 of their last 4 games, and haven’t blown away the opposition since a commanding 4-0 Premiership win over Motherwell last month.

Indeed, Celtic needed to make a host of changes to eventually put Raith Rovers to the sword whilst relying on a last-minute goal to overcome Dundee at Celtic Park. Our 0-0 draw with Hibs on Sunday also came after a dismal Europa Conference League exit to Bodo/Glimt.

But Ange has stated that people can’t expect the team to produce perfect displays every week as he launched a major defence of his side.

As quoted by the Daily Record, he said: “We accept sometimes our performances don’t hit the levels we want but it’s not for the lack of trying or the lack of the players wanting and willing themselves to play the type of football we can on a consistent basis. But if people expect 61 perfect performances then they are not going to get it because you’re dealing with human beings.

“All I ask for every week is that they go out there with a real willingness, an intent and a desire to be the best they can be and play football a certain way.

“Sometimes we’re going to fall short, we’re dealing with human beings, but I’ve never seen failure in attempting to be something that’s aspirational and you want to be the best at it you can possibly be. We’ll deal with it. The fixtures, the injuries, the disruptions as we have done in the past. We won’t make excuses, we’ll take our hits when we deserve them and focus on the next task.”

Celtic grinding results out but performance levels still need bolstering

Ange isn’t wrong in anything he says here in fairness to him. He’s bang on to state that nobody can expect perfect performances on a weekly basis. After all, how often do we all have bad days at work? It happens, we’re not robots and neither are the Celtic players.

What has been impressive about this since the winter break is that results have followed even if good performances haven’t turned up. Remember, before the draw on Sunday, we were on a run of 10 consecutive victories in domestic matches. We were looking untouchable at times.

At the same time, however, some character and some luck has needed to be shown. Let’s not forget the last-minute winner against Dundee United at Parkhead before we hammered Rangers. Nor should we forget how close we were to dropping 2 points at home to Dundee either.

If we keep operating at the levels we have been then more points will be dropped in the coming weeks. That’s just the nature of it. We can’t expect any different. And that’s why it’s so imperative to raise our standards once more.

Whether that happens against St Mirren tonight or not remains to be seen. But it reads as a fixture that gives us that opportunity to get back to our peak levels. A game against a side still under major transition under new boss Stephen Robinson.

We’ll see what comes of it this evening, but there’s no denying things need to improve if we’re to edge over the line in the title race.

In other news, Celtic loanee Adam Montgomery suffers hamstring injury at Aberdeen; out for several weeks