ANGE POSTECOGLOU reckons his late father Jim would have approved of Celtic’s performance in the 3-2 League Cup victory over Hearts at Parkhead yesterday.
The superiority of the Hoops is not reflected in the final scoreline with the Edinburgh side claiming their goals with their only two shots on target, one a penalty-kick from Liam Boyce and the other a stoppage-time effort from Aaron McEneff.
Postecoglou’s side scored three times with strikes from Odsonne Edouard, Stephen Welsh and Kyogo Furushashi and had a total of ELEVEN attempts on Craig Gordon’s goal with the former Celtic No.1 putting in a terrific performance with a sequence of brilliant stops.
HAPPY DAYS…Ange Postecoglou celebrates a Celtic goal.
On their way to a quarter-final meeting with Raith Rovers in the quarter-finals in Glasgow next month, the team played some breathtaking stuff with some eye-opening one-touch movements with the front players operating at pace, especially in the opening 45 minutes where the team could have been six goals ahead.
It was a pulverising display and the rejuvenated Tom Rogic, obviously thriving following the arrival of his former Australia international boss, danced his way through 74 minutes before making way for new Bhoy James McCarthy.
Postecoglou grinned: “That’s the kind of football my father instilled in me.
“He’s up there now, but I always envisage him in the stands and think about what he’d say about the team. He was never enraptured by results, he just wanted to see a certain type of football.
NUMBER ONE…Odsonne Edouard tucks away a pass from James Forrest for the breakthrough goal.
NUMBER TWO…Stephen Welsh sends a thumping header past former team-mate Craig Gordon from Odsonne Edouard’s cross.
NUMBER THREE…Kyogo Furuhashi fires a sizzling effort past the diving Craig Gordon for what proved to be the winner.
“And I know he would have been up off his chair in the first-half, especially. We played great, but, more importantly, the players enjoyed it and they got their rewards.
“I thought the first hour we were really good, the best football we played this year.
“We dominated and the only thing we didn’t take advantage of was some unbelievable opportunities to put the game to bed.
“The football was outstanding, the intent was outstanding. We never took our foot off the pedal and credit to the players in the middle of a heavy schedule that they were able to push that far in.
“The last half hour we got a bit ragged for sure, a bit of fatigue set in, some lapses in concentration, but I was really pleased with the football we played.”
Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “You are never going to totally dominate a game for 90 minutes. It doesn’t matter who you are, there’s always going to be times when the opposition get into the game.
IN WITH A SHOUT…Odsonne Edouard opened the scoring in his first start in four games.
“For the most important thing is our intent. If our intent is always to be aggressive, then even when we are under a little bit of pressure then we can ride through that.
“In the last 20 minutes we still had opportunities. We were careless in some things, but that doesn’t take away from the football we played in the early part.
“It’s motivation more than pride. The players are really buying into it, which is great, that’s what I need.
“We are getting belief in our football and getting rewards from that belief.
“I just want to keep fertilising that to keep us growing as a football team.
“Once they see the possibilities, they commit to it totally and, hopefully, that encourages them to do it more and keep improving.”
DOMINATION – BUT HOOPS MUST BEWARE LAPSES
