ANGE POSTECOGLOU could not mask his massive disappointment as he reviewed Celtic’s 3-1 setback in Leipzig tonight.
The Hoops boss was obviously concerned by the nature of the defeat that has left the club still looking for their first win in Champions League Group H after losses to Real Madrid and RB Leipzig and a draw with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Postecoglou talked about the “negative” play and the “self-inflicted” second goal that brought about their downfall against the Bundesliga club.
The Greek-Australian gaffer said: “Disappointed, obviously, with the outcome. I thought we were well in the game.
“Even first-half, although one-goal down, I thought we had created some good chances.
“It was a question of hanging in there and we got a good goal. After we scored, we went into our shell a little bit in terms of our possession and we got negative with our passing, started passing back too often.
“We were disappointed at the second goal because that was a crucial one and that changed the course of the game.”
Postecoglou, speaking to BT Sport, continued: “I said they were a good counter-attacking team, that’s what they play on and they have some quality players who will hurt you.
“The second goal was self-inflicted and had nothing to do with the nature of the game.
“As I said, we were just too negative with our passing. We kept going back to Joe for no reason, under no pressure.
“We invited them to sort of get on top of us. You give them a second goal, you’re away from home and it makes it a difficult task.”
The Filipe Jota goal shortly after the turnaround combined the aggression and quick movement Postecoglou demands from his players when Reo Hatate picked up possession, fed a superb ball through to Kyogo Furuhashi and he swept a pass across the box to Jota who didn’t break stride as he whipped a first-time left-foot drive into the net.
The Hoops chief added: “There’s no reason why we can’t keep doing that. Look, I get it. A lot of it is just experience at this level, guys believing they belong, guys believing they can achieve success at this level.
“It’s not easy to translate that into people when they are out there. But there’s a lesson out there for us tonight.
“We know when we are aggressive we can cause anyone problems, but when we’re not it’s going to be very hard for us to be successful.”
Celtic get a fourth chance of winning in this section when RB Leipzig again provide the opposition at Parkhead on Tuesday.
DEFEAT – AND IT’S HART-ACHE FOR HOOPS
