Postecoglou regrets not giving Furuhashi central role for Celtic

Ange Postecoglou reflected on Celtic’s defeat in his first Old Firm game and revealed that he had regrets over his initial tactics.

A goal from Filip Helander settled a close contest at Ibrox, with the defending champions closing out a Celtic attack that’s been scoring goals with relative ease in recent weeks.

Postecoglou had opted to play Odsonne Edouard through the middle, with Kyogo Furuhashi, who has been prolific since arriving in Glasgow, taking up a position on the left.

A change made after the goal saw Edouard withdrawn along with David Turnbull, as Ismaila Soro and Tom Rogic joined the game, allowing Furuhashi to play centrally and creating some chances for his side.

Postecoglou admitted that with hindsight he may have benefitted from starting the Japanese in that position to trouble Rangers’ defence.

“To be honest, I thought I should have started him there to begin with,” the Celtic boss said.

“But with James Forrest out we are short in the wide areas at the moment so I had to start with him out wide on the left.

“I knew with his speed getting Kyogo in the middle was going to cause them problems.”

Postecoglou felt that the match was one that was decided by fine margins, with Helander’s breakthrough goal the obvious defining moment for both teams.

“The first goal makes a difference,” he said.

“If we had scored that then it changes the complexion of the game, puts them under a bit more pressure.

“They are the big moments. It didn’t work out for us today.

“It is disappointing in a tight game that when we could have taken a foothold in it we didn’t.”

With no games for Celtic in the next two weeks due to the international break, Postecoglou will now see what the final two days of the transfer window brings, with further talk of an exit for striker Odsonne Edouard.

“I don’t know [if Edouard will go], but I’ll be pretty happy to get to the end of the window to be fair so I know who’s here and who’s not,” the manager said.

“It’s been a hugely challenging period, there’s no doubt about that.

“You have players coming in and we have been throwing them in. There is uncertainty over who is going to stay.

“It was always going to be a challenging month for us. I will be happy to get to Tuesday and know the players we have got in the building are the ones who are committed to us.”