Ange Postecoglou insists Celtic only lacked one thing against Hibs - 'I get it, the world has collapsed'

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou refused to accept his team lacked anything except a goal as they dropped points in the cinch Premiership for the first time since before Christmas with a mundane scoreless draw against Hibs at Easter Road.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou at full-time after the goalless draw with Hibs. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Decreeing the outcome the product of a “good performance” he insisted that when it came to energy and creativity it was the home side “sitting so deep” and the “bodies in the box” that had made things “difficult”. He then was bullish in response to whether his team’s passing was crisp enough - “absolutely it was,” he stated - before mock exasperation to a follow-up as to whether there was a spark missing.

“No, is this working?” the Australian said, tapping the mike in front of him. “Where were you sitting? [the press box] Exactly. You’ve got to understand football is not played in perfect isolated conditions. You’re talking about an opposition whose main role is to try and stop you, a pitch that is not conducive to moving the ball quickly. Within that the players were still brave, they were still passing into the right areas, we still got into the right areas.

"I get it - we didn’t win, the world has collapsed, I understand that. We’ll manage that the next couple of days. But from my perspective, when you come away from home and you dominate an opposition at what is traditionally a tough venue and you don’t get the win, you’re disappointed because I think our play deserved it.”

Meanwhile, any reaction that will ensue from the first points Celtic dropped in nine league matches isn’t a source of concern for the Postecoglou. “I think that’s normal. You guys will know better than me,” he said. “If this football club doesn’t win every week there’s obviously an expectation. That’s fine. I’m not here to tell people what to think or what their assessment of the game is. I’m here to give my assessment of the game. People might have a different view and that’s fine, I accept that. But when you’re asking me my assessment and we’ve come away from home and the team is set up to try and stop you and we were as comfortable as we were in the game itself, there’s not much more I can ask from my players.”

Giorgos Giakoumakis missed out with illness and the Celtic manager expects him to return for Wednesday’s home meeting with St Mirren. But, despite a series of crosses flying over heads in the eight minutes for added time as Celtic started to show an urgency not always apparent against opponents that never threatened them, the absence of the Greek’s aerial presence then seemed felt. Not, for Postecoglou, though.

“I don’t think we missed him,” the Celtic manager said. “He should be okay…we are hoping he will be okay for Wednesday. It is just an illness and he wasn’t right for today. With a bit of luck he will be [in midweek]. Giako wasn’t going to make us play any better than we did today. We played well enough, we just weren’t able to score a goal.”

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