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Ange Postecoglou says Celtic fans are behind him despite slow start to season

Ange Postecoglou says Celtic fans are behind him despite slow start to season
© Reuters
The Bhoys are in sixth place in the Scottish Premiership after losing three of their first six games.

Ange Postecoglou is adamant he won't allow any outside noise to influence how he goes about his Celtic rebuilding job.

The manager has been the subject of scrutiny this week after suffering a third defeat in six league games away to Livingston last weekend.

However, Postecoglou believes the majority of supporters are mindful of the situation he inherited in the summer and remain on board with the style of play he is trying to instil.

The Australian won't allow the opinions of any pundits to change the way he goes about his business.

He said: "I'm not on social media and I'm not a great reader of what's going on around the place, but my general feeling is that our supporters are totally understanding of the situation we're in and have been very supportive right from day one.

"I haven't sensed a shift in that, although I know Sunday's game was probably the most disappointed they've been in our performance. I've never felt that our supporters were thinking this would be a quick fix at any stage.

"For us, it's about what we do internally here. 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."

Celtic have won only one of their seven away games in all competitions this season, but Postecoglou is adamant his team are generally playing well enough on their travels to soon start picking up results.

He said:  "Our away results haven't been great but I wouldn't say our away from hasn't been great. You've got to differentiate between that because you can get caught up creating a bigger area of concern than what exists.

"Our results obviously haven't been great away from home but our form has actually been pretty good, with the weekend's form being the exception to that in that we didn't really play with our tempo and intensity."

Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi, Greg Taylor, James Forrest and Christopher Jullien are among the key Celtic players who remain missing for Thursday's Premier Sports Cup tie at home to Raith Rovers.

Postecoglou – who will include Giorgos Giakoumakis in the squad for the first time against the Championship side – insists his team simply have to find a way of battling through this testing period.

He said: "I'm not a woe-is-me kind of bloke. It would be great to have a full complement of players. We're obviously missing our skipper and our top scorer and you can start thinking things are piling up against you or you can see it as an opportunity to build resilience.

"Things will settle down. The key thing is that we stay calm and stay strong. You can go around thinking about the possibilities if you had everyone available but that's not in our control. What is in our control is that we have a game on Thursday night and an opportunity to progress in a competition, and that's where our focus is."

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Celtic coach Ange Postecoglou pictured on August 12, 2021
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
Championship Group
1Celtic000080265478
2RangersRangers000072234975
3Hearts000046341262
4Kilmarnock00004334951
5St Mirren00003843-543
6Dundee00004454-1041
Relegation Group
1Hibernian00004451-739
2Motherwell00004651-537
3Aberdeen00003549-1435
4St Johnstone00002446-2231
5Ross County00003256-2430
6Livingston00002259-3718
 
First Phase
1Celtic33246380265478
2RangersRangers33243672234975
3Hearts33195946341262
4Kilmarnock33131284334951
5St Mirren33127143843-543
6Dundee331011124454-1041
7Hibernian33912124451-739
8Motherwell33813124651-537
9Aberdeen33811143549-1435
10St Johnstone33710162446-2231
11Ross County3379173256-2430
12Livingston3339212259-3718


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