Ange Postecoglou insists Callum McGregor won’t be bothered by a suspected broken beak after Celtic kept their noses well out in front in the title race.
The Hoops captain took a hefty bang on the face as his side cruised to a 3-0 victory against Livingston last night to maintain their nine point advantage at the top of the table. McGregor managed to stay on the pitch as Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo fired Celts with three first half strikes. Postecoglou admitted he was concerned when the skipper – who suffered a fractured cheekbone last season – hit the deck.
But the knock was never going to stop Celtic sniffing out another three points. Postecoglou said: “Was I worried? I am worried about all of them, mate. I love them all the same. I don’t want any of them to get hurt. But we realised fairly early that he had got a bang on the nose and a bit of blood was coming out. But it was nothing to worry about, he was fine. Was it broken? I didn’t ask him, I wouldn’t ask him. If he did he would be up there tomorrow for training, no problem.”
Postecoglou was thrilled with another shown of strength from his side as they swatted Livi aside in the opening 45 minutes. Celts could have added more after the break after dominating the whole match but the manager was satisfied to maintain his domestic unbeaten run at Celtic Park.
Postecoglou said: “I thought it was another strong performance. We knew it would be a tough challenge, trying to create opportunities in the game. I thought we were really good, we had a lot of possession but we used our possession really well, asking questions of the opposition, be threatening with our running.
“We scored three good goals, second-half wasn’t any easier because they still sat in and made it difficult. It wasn’t going to be an open game but we still controlled the game well and had some half-chances in the second-half.” Celtic’s second goal came from Maeda’s FACE when he charged down a clearance from Ayo Obileye.
But Postecoglou shot down any more mentions of good fortune on the back of Rangers boss Mick Beale branding him a lucky man last month. He said: “You love that word (lucky) don’t you? It’s just so easy! How many runs does Daizen make in a game? It was a product of is hard work, anyone who watches Daizen sees he’s constantly making runs and constantly in those areas.
“There were a couple of times he lacked a bit of composure but he’s always there – that’s why he gets his goals. I’ve known him for a while now and sometimes people say he’s fortuitous but it’s on the back of working his backside off when we have the ball. He gets the rewards from that.”
Postecoglou sends his men out to attack but he was delighted with a sixth shutout on the spin.
The boss - who admitted there had been no movement in Giorgos Giakoumakis' proposed move to Atlanta United – said: “It is not just that we are keeping clean sheets, we are stopping the opposition even getting into our half at times and that is because our front players are working hard, our midfielders are working hard and it is backed up by our defenders who are always defending on the front foot. That is pleasing for me, yeah.
“The clean sheets are more a by-product of the stuff we talk about and work on. That is the pleasing bit.”
Postecoglou managed to get new striker Oh Hyeon-gyu more minutes and he admitted the frontman is chomping at the bit to get off the mark.
He said: “I think that’s strikers in general. They know they are expected to score goals but we know he’ll be a very good player for us. We are throwing him in at the minute to get him minutes to get up to speed.He’s desperate to get a goal but more important to me is the fact I see every day he is getting stronger and adjusting to the tempo and intensity of our training. We are getting him match fitness and he’ll be up to speed in the next few weeks.”
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