Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has dismissed the idea that his Hoops team has to be more solid defensively after ropey showings over the last week.
The Hoops have suffered from 5 goals being conceded in their last 2 matches. Some poor defensive mistakes led to Bodo/Glimt running away with a 3-1 win at Parkhead last week. Dundee, meanwhile, took advantage of 2 set-pieces to give us a fright on Sunday.
This has led to major question marks over whether Celtic need to improve their defensive performances. That’s despite the fact they’re still ranked as the best defence in the country with only 17 goals conceded this term.
And when it was put to him today whether defensive work was needed, Ange wasn’t having any of it.
As quoted by The Herald, the Celtic boss said: “As I said after the (Bodo/Glimt) game we weren’t as clinical or efficient with the chances we had and they were. Obviously if that changes, we are in better shape.
“We don’t have to be more solid defensively. If they had 20 chances and Joe Hart made 15 saves and they hit the crossbar then we would be saying we have some issues defensively.
“I look at the performance and the way we play. They were a lot more clinical with their fewer attempts on goal than we were so we need to improve that, but it is not something that has been ongoing so it is not an issue.”
Celtic need to be sharper after recent defensive issues
It’s no real surprise to see the manager defending his players here. It’s exactly what you’d want your head coach to be doing if you were in the position of the Celtic players.
However, the truth is we have been sloppier than we would’ve liked over the last 7 days. Take a look at all 3 goals against Bodo/Glimt. For 2 of them, there was far too much space left in the central area for them to exploit. For their other goal, we saw 2 of our players get done by Ola Solbakken before we then struggled with the cross-ball.
Against Dundee, it was routine stuff that should’ve been dealt with. Reo Hatate was caught ball-watching for Danny Mullen’s opener. Ryan Sweeney was then too powerful for Cameron Carter-Vickers in a rare sight as he powered home a header.
So there are concerns over set-pieces but we also have to protect the defence better than what we did against Bodo last week. That’s something Ange will almost certainly understand and he’ll likely be letting the players know all about it.
If we make the same mistakes we did last week when we go out onto the plastic turf tomorrow, the bare truth is we’ll be in trouble.
But the manager is spot on to protect his players in front of the media. I suspect, however, that it’ll be a different story behind the scenes.
In other news, John Hartson talks up “unbelievable” Celtic treble opportunity
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