CELTIC made it a whole lot more difficult for themelves than it should have been in the 2-1 win over Livingston at Parkhead last night.
The main thing, of course, was the victory that restored their nine-point advantage over their nearest challengers, but Ange Postecoglou was far from impressed with the manner of the success.
The Hoops boss watched his side dominate the first-half to lead 2-0 with an own goal from Ayo Obileye and a typical near-post strike from Kyogo Furuhashi.
However, the West Lothian club, with their solitary effort at Joe Hart, pulled one back through Nicky Devlin in stoppage-time just before the turnaround.
PERFECTIONIST POSTECOGLOU…boss Ange can’t hide his frustration after the 2-1 win over Livingston. Image courtesy Celtic TV.
A goal from Liel Abada in the 71st minute was ruled out after VAR intervention – surprise, surprise – as the hosts eventually brought a towsy and unimpressive second period to a halt with a tenth consecutive league win as the rain and wind swept around the arena in the east end of Glasgow.
A furious Postecoglou said: “We still created chances, but those numbers should be greater if we got on the end of things.
“It’s unacceptable. We work on it constantly, so players know they should be in that area. It’s not clinical, it’s just being disciplined and being in those areas.
“We created good chances, but people in the box weren’t doing their jobs. Balls flashed across the goal, but people weren’t there. It’s disappointing because we work on that constantly.
“We’ve had a lot of success playing that way, so when it doesn’t happen, I get frustrated because there’s no reason we shouldn’t do it. It’s not anticipation because we know what’s going to happen.
MATCHWINNER…Kyogo Furuhashi is congratulated by Liel Abada.
“We work on it constantly. People said last week we’ve scored 200 goals and a lot have been like that.
“Maybe it’s human nature and people maybe think there are other ways to score. I was disappointed we didn’t take advantage of the chances we created.”
Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “It was important to win. The performance wasn’t our best. I thought in the first-half we controlled the game and did the things we wanted to, but I was disappointed.
“At 2-0, the game should have been over. We conceded a soft goal which we’ve not done a lot of either. We lost concentration for a moment.
“The second-half was okay. We controlled the game, but there wasn’t a great deal of rhythm.”
The Greek-Australian gaffer will now prepare for the visit of St Johnstone on Christmas Eve as the curtain comes down on action at Parkhead for 2022.
No doubt Postecoglou will be looking for fireworks from his players to say farewell to an eventful year in grand fashion.
WINNING IN THE RAIN WITH KYOGO
