The Scottish champions were merciless in their Tannadice mauling with five of their nine goals coming subsequent to the interval, by which time Kyogo Furuhashi had snared a hat-trick. Liel Abada added another triple but in a sober reflection, Postecolgou essentially pointed to the absence of showboating and the remorseless pursuit of team goals as they punished a home team that were pitiful, and declared by their beleaguered manager Jack Ross as being an embarrassment as they were humiliated.

“What is important is the manner which we went about it,” said the Celtic manager when asked if his team could have reached double-figures on an afternoon they dished out the biggest away win in the Scottish top flight this millennium.

"I am always respectful of this game, you need to stay humble and you can't get too ahead of yourself or this game will drag you back down. I thought right to the end we were respectful. We understood that we had a vulnerable opponent but there was no getting away from being disciplined.

“Some of our goals were trademark, about being in the right areas and the right kind of positions the players were taking up. There were good decisions being made in front of goal and that was pleasing as it's the most difficult area of the park. Scoring goals, as easy as it looked today, is still the most difficult of tasks. The boys were very focused, at the end they could have chosen the individual route but we were still trying to play our football and still trying to score the kind of goals that we work on.”

Asked if he had sympathy for Ross, who has acknowledged he will now come under intense pressure with 24 goals conceded in a winless five-game streak, Postecoglou again declined to be patronising. “I don't think sympathy is the right word as we all know we are in this business and it's a ruthless business,” said the Australian.

"I don't think Jack Ross needs my sympathy. I absolutely have a respect and understanding about the position he's in. I've always said with every manager that unless you are in their shoes it's very hard to know what they are dealing with, or how they are going about things. No manager goes out there to try and not be successful. Of course, there is a part of you that on the sideline does feel for what the other guy is going through as we are all in the same game. We didn't take advantage of that, we stayed respectful in terms of our approach.”

Ange Postecoglou hails 'respectful' Celtic but admits: 'I don't think Jack Ross needs my sympathy'

Celtic player ratings: Several stand-outs in complete performance

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