ANGE POSTECOGLOU saw his Celtic team go five games before they had their first clean sheet.
The Hoops celebrated a shut-out against Dundee at Parkhead on August 8 when Kyogo Furuhashi hit the headlines with a hat-trick in the 6-0 romp against Dundee.
Postecoglou takes his team to Easter Road tomorrow night to face Hibs on the back of three 2-0 successes against Motherwell, Ferencvaros and St Johnstone.
Vasilis Barkas and Scott Bain were in charge of the gloves at the campaign kick-off, but 34-year-old Joe Hart has made the No.1 position his own since arriving in a £1million switch from Spurs and he will be in position again against Jack Ross’ team in Leith.
Asked about the 100 per cent defensive sequence, Postecoglou replied: “I’ve said a few times, it’s not about the clean sheets, it’s about how we defend.
“We’ve got a really settled defensive line which I think is important for sure when you are talking about organisation, having some sort of understanding helps that.
“The back four and Joe has been a lot more settled. We have made one or two changes here and there, but we are settled and we have defended well as a team.
“I know people keep harping on about it, but we obviously played against two very good teams in Betis and Leverkusen who put four past us. Apart from that, teams have struggled to score against us.
“I don’t think it’s been that much of an issue as others have made out. From my perspective we defend as a collective. Our strikers are working hard, our midfielders are working hard, and it gives the defenders and Joe the opportunity to have minimal impact on our goal.”
The Greek-Australian, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “A lot of teams in the Premiership play on the counter-attack and we have really minimised that in our last few fixtures.
“Even if you look at European games, the number of entries into the box means we are defending higher up the box.”
The Hoops are hoping for better fortune in Scotland’s capital tomorrow after failing to win in last season’s two visits.
It took a last-minute goal from on-loan Diego Laxalt to rescue a point in the 2-2 draw in November and it was a scoreless stalemate in May when Scott Brown brought down the curtain on his medal-laden Parkhead career.
