On one hand, it is hard not to be disappointed with the result coming out of Celtic’s game against Real Betis. The Hoops had taken a 2-0 lead within the first 30 minutes and almost got the third as well. But then, the La Liga side would score 4 times and while Ange Postecoglou’s side would grab one back late on, it was a little too late as things ended 4-3 in favour of Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
When all things are considered though, it was definitely not a bad result for Celtic. In fact, it was a very decent one.
An away trip to Seville to face a very good Real Betis side was always going to be tough. And it was made tougher due to the significant number of injuries in the Celtic squad. Ultimately, Postecoglou fielded a team that was nowhere near their strongest but they did pretty well for most parts of the game.
Of course, there are things to work upon moving forward as conceding four goals is never ideal. Postecoglou had some positive news on the injury front though. As reported by The Herald, the Celtic manager said:
"“Tonight, that’s our baseline against a very good opponent.“We’ll get some players back who are going to help us absolutely, particularly to settle the team down a bit. We’ll be stronger.“Hopefully over the next week to 10 days we’ll have three or four back.”"
Postecoglou provides massive Celtic injury boost
Three or four players coming back into the thick of things would be massive for Celtic, especially considering the fact that this squad is not very deep at the moment. There are several positions where they could do with more options in.
It is clear that this is a tough period for the Hoops. But they must make sure that they can grind out results in the coming games. Otherwise, this short period of time could end up having a massive impact at the end of the season.
Hopefully, with more players back in action and the confidence boost that they must have gotten from this showing against Real Betis, they will be able to build up some momentum after losing three of their last four games.