Hearts boss Robbie Neilson has continued to push the narrative that his side had Celtic ‘rattled’ during the Hoops’ 4-3 victory at Tynecastle on Saturday.
It was an entertaining afternoon in the capital as both sides battled it out, with plenty of talking points arising after the first involvements of VAR.
Despite suffering two second-half setbacks, Ange Postecoglou’s side was able to deliver all three points, as the Aussie boss extended his unbeaten run against the Jambos to six games.
Following on from such an entertaining fixture, you would expect the manager’s post-match comments from each side to be praising the efforts that both teams went to throughout the 90 minutes.
However, the Tynecastle boss decided to go down a slightly different route, insisting that even though the Hoops’ quality came through in the end, his Hearts side had them ‘rattled’.
Although it was a tightly contested game in the end, things could have been so much more comfortable for Celtic, after two questionable first-half VAR calls.
Ange Postecoglou’s sides quality might have come through. However, there was no sign of any collapse from the Bhoys or that the Jambos had us ‘rattled’. Instead, we rallied back from some frustrating moments in the game, responding perfectly to take home all three points.
Some might have let Neilson have with these comments after such a high-energy game. His remarks about Postecoglou’s squad could have just been in the heat of the moment.
However, the ex-Jambos skipper has doubled down on his statement ahead of Hearts’ penultimate UEFA Europa Conference League fixture against RFS.
The 42-year-old came away from Saturday frustrated that his side hadn’t taken home the victory after scoring three goals in the game.
However, he also claimed that Hearts had the Hoops ‘on the ropes’, stating that Postecoglou had to turn to his bench to see out the game.
He said [Edinburgh Evening News]: “There have been periods in games where we have played like that and done well, then other periods where we haven’t done it. We are still losing goals we shouldn’t be losing.
“You can’t score three goals and lose four in a game. It needs to be better.
“People are giving us a pat on the back and saying we were unlucky. We should have won that game. We scored three goals against Celtic at Tynecastle, so we need to be better defensively.
“You want Celtic, Rangers and Hibs to come here and get turned over. We had them on the ropes, had them rattled. They had to turn to their bench and bring on £20million worth of talent to try and get over the line. We should at least have taken something out of the game.”
Robbie Neilson’s Celtic bench claim isn’t a Tynecastle one-off; it’s what Ange Postecoglou does every game.
Although the eventual winner in last weekend’s game came from substitute Greg Taylor, this claim from Neilson is another bizarre one for me.
The Hearts boss seems to be suggesting Postecoglou wouldn’t have turned to attacking talents such as Liel Abada or Sead Haksabanovic had the game been going in another direction.
However, in my opinion, I believe the Celtic manager has showcased in the past, no matter the result, he regularly turns to these sorts of players off the bench.
Had we been 3-0 up at Tynecastle, I still think the 57-year-old would have made those changes at some point in the game.
Although Neilson might claim his side had Celtic ‘on the ropes’ throughout the entertaining fixture in Edinburgh, it really didn’t feel like that towards the end when it was the Hoops pushing for a 5th goal rather than holding on to the win.
This isn’t the first time Neilson has doubled down on some of his post-match Celtic comments, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time, either.
One man who will be steering clear of it all is Ange Postecoglou, who is more focused on delivering all three points, and he has done precisely that in his last six outings against the Hearts manager.
In other news, Defiant Ange Postecoglou mindset won’t be hindered by dispiriting Celtic questions.
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