Celtic legend sends big warning to Ange Postecoglou

There is no question that Celtic have made a lot of progress under the management of Ange Postecoglou. The performance against Bayer Leverkusen was further proof of that. In the reverse fixture, the Hoops had been handed a 4-0 defeat by the Bundesliga giants at Parkhead. This time around, it was much closer and for a long time, it had looked like the Glasgow giants were headed towards a win away in Germany.

Ultimately, that did not turn out to be the case. Often in Europe in recent times, Celtic have found themselves in good positions but have not managed to make them count. This was another such instance.

Bayer Leverkusen would score two late goals, after the 80th minute mark, to come out with a 3-2 win, ending Celtic’s hopes of making it to the Europa League knockout phase this season. And it is safe to say that it was a very disappointing result for Postecoglou’s side.

Pat Bonner sent a warning to Postecoglou after the game, about the importance of keeping things tight defensively as well. The Celtic legend told BBC Sportsound (via BBC):

"“You can talk all about the good work all you want, but if you can’t keep the ball out of the net, then you’ll get nowhere. The attacking football is great to watch but defensively it’s just as important.”"

Celtic need to improve their defence, especially in pressure situations

Defence has been a worry for Celtic for a while now but in recent times, we have seen a lot of improvement in that aspect of their game.

But when it comes to pressure situations, they still appear to struggle at times. This was a great example of that. Even a draw would have been fine for Celtic and kept their knockout phase hopes alive. But they conceded two late goals to come out of the game with nothing to show for what was a commendable performance.

This is an area that the Hoops definitely need to work on if they are to be successful in Europe and the big games in domestic competitions as well.

These are still early days for Postecoglou as manager though and hopefully, with the right additions in January and some adjustments, we will see the team improve in this aspect as well.