‘WE NEED MORE PLAYERS,’ INSISTS ANGE

ANGE POSTECOGLOU was delighted with a lot of what he saw from his Celtic team in the 3-2 League Cup win over Hearts at Parkhead yesterday.

However, the Hoops boss insisted he still needs MORE signings before the transfer deadline a fortnight tomorrow.

Postecoglou watched his team dominate the Tynecastle side for almost an hour and lead with first-half goals from Odsonne Edouard and Stephen Welsh, but a moment of slackness by Carl Starfelt allowed the opponents back into the encounter when he gifted Liam Boyce a penalty-kick.

Kyogo Furuhashi thumped in his fifth goal in four appearances to restore the two-goal advantage before the visitors got a second in stoppage-time to put a bizarre complexion on the final scoreline.

HIGH STANDARDS…Ange Postecoglou concentrates during a training session.

The Greek-Australian gaffer was afforded the opportunity to bring on James McCarthy in the 74th minute for his long-awaited debut in the hoops with the lifelong Celtic fan replacing Man of the Match Tom Rogic who was irresistible for large swathes of the match.

Postecoglou is adamant he needs reinforcements to the five major signings he has already made since arriving in June.

The Parkhead boss admitted: “It was great getting James some game time, but I keep saying it, we need more players to support the ones we have.

“Some of them are putting in enormous shifts with some playing 90 minutes and others 70 minutes.

“The mistakes don’t have to happen, but, unfortunately, that’s the position we’re in at the moment.

“Hopefully, getting a few more players in will allow us to maintain the standard for 90 minutes.”

LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BHOYS…Ismaila Soro, Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor applaud the fans at full-time.

Celtic produced their attacking show without injured duo Ryan Christie and Liel Abada, but Postecoglou hopes both will be ready for the midweek Europa League play-off final first leg against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar

The 55-year-old manager, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “I hope Ryan’s going to be okay. He was a bit sore on Saturday and right now we’re not sure how he’ll be.

“Abada should be fine. He was really close to making it, but we didn’t want to risk him as we’re going to need his energy on Wednesday night.

“If you look at our goals, we’re getting them from a few players. And if we play the football we can play then whoever plays in that front three will get goals. We don’t just rely on one player, the goals are shared.”

DOMINATION – BUT HOOPS MUST BEWARE LAPSES