ANGE POSTECOGLOU says that the Celtic players have to make it up to their supporters after failing to get anywhere the standards they have set for themselves in defeat to St Mirren.
Celtic were outfought all over the field in Paisley, as goals from Mark O’Hara and Jonah Ayunga gave the Saints a merited victory over the champions.
The Celtic manager was hugely disappointed by the efforts of his players as they fell to their first league defeat in 38 matches, and says they must now dust themselves off and use the experience as an incentive to get back on track.
“We were nowhere near the levels we want to be,” Postecoglou said.
“Credit to St Mirren first of all. They worked really hard and were really committed to their gameplan. They made it hard for us but we never hit the levels we need to play our football. We didn’t really get going in the first half and then we were chasing the game.
“It’s a disappointing day. We pride ourselves on having certain standards and we didn’t reach those today, and football will always teach you that lesson.
“What has got us to this point over the past 15 or 16 months is having a certain work ethic and certain levels of performance and belief. Today, we didn’t reach any of those, and that was disappointing.
“I just feel for our supporters, because they have got to sit on it for a couple of weeks until we play again, but that’s the responsibility we bear as a collective.
“We have given them some good times, but we’ve disappointed them today and we’ve got to address that the next time we’re out there to play.
“The reaction will be the reaction. You can’t take all the praise as you go along and then expect people just to brush over it.
“We’ve got to take the hits when they come and we’ve just got to get back up and go again.
“It’s a sore one today, it’s one that we’ve got to use the fuel what we need to do next to get going again.”
Postecoglou made six changes to his side from the team that drew with Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw on Wednesday night, and he feels that may have been a factor in their disjointed display.
“Potentially,” he said. “You look at everything - team selection, the way you perform. Everything is under scrutiny.
“Irrespective of those kinds of factors, we didn’t hit any of our marks in terms of the kind of football we want to play, the intensity, tempo we want to have in a game. We just never got going.
“That’s the kind of team we want to be and that’s kind of how we assert our dominance on the opposition, by being really aggressive in everything we do.
“We just weren’t aggressive today both in action and in thought. We kind of tried to ease our way into a game of football, and you just can’t do that.
“You’ve got to be at it from the start and we weren’t.”
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