Postecoglou: Fans understand Celtic job wouldn't be quick fix

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou doesn’t think recent results have changed the supporters’ backing for him and the changes he is making to the team.

Results have been inconsistent this season as the Australian looks to improve the team’s fortunes and bed in a new set of players in Glasgow, with the team’s troubles tending to come on the road. Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Livingston was a fifth successive away loss across all competitions this term and came quickly after a 4-3 reverse in the opening Europa League fixture against Real Betis.

Postecoglou was keen to mark a difference between how the team had played in the majority of away games and the final score in some matches.

“Our away results haven’t been great but I wouldn’t say our away form hasn’t been great,” he said.

“Our form actually has been pretty good. The weekend was probably the exception to that.

“We didn’t play to our tempo, our intensity. Sunday’s game was probably the most disappointed they’ve been in our performance.”

Despite the results, the manager doesn’t feel that the backing for himself or the team has changed. Having come in to the club at a time when there was changer at a number of levels, and a large turnover in the squad, he always felt it would take time to embed his ideas and get the team to gel, and thinks the fans are of the same mind.

“My general feeling is that our supporters are totally understanding of the situation we’re in and have been very supportive,” he said. “I haven’t sensed a shift in that.

“I haven’t felt that the supporters are thinking this is going to be a quick fix at any stage.”

Postecoglou, who shrugged off a question about the squad he inherited by saying “I’m not a ‘woe is me kind of bloke'”,said he wasn’t oblivious to what some critics were saying but will continue to work to his methods and trust that the long term benefits will come.

“For us, it’s about what we do internally here,” he said. “We can’t get caught up in what outside timelines are or what expectations are from various people who are obviously going to critique what we do when things aren’t going well.

“We’ve just got to stand up and face that and accept that as part of the process.

“”We’re starting on a road to being a certain type of football team and we won’t waver from that. I’ve got confidence in the group and what we’re trying to achieve and all these things that happen along the way are just challenges to our commitment to it.

“We’ll just keep ploughing on in this direction.”

Next up in a busy schedule for Celtic is the visit of Raith Rovers for the League Cup semi-final on Thursday.