Ange Postecoglou hails star quality of Tom Rogic in Celtic win at Dundee United

Posted Sunday, December 05, 2021 by PA

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou hailed the star quality of Tom Rogic after the midfielder’s special goal at Tannadice.

Rogic scored the pick of three excellent goals as Celtic cruised to victory over Dundee United.

The Australia international kicked off the 3-0 cinch Premiership win in the 19th minute when he glided through one challenge before dribbling between two United players and then finding space past Charlie Mulgrew to curl home.

Former Socceroos manager Postecoglou said: “He’s just one of those players. When he gets the ball, put down your phones, stop eating and drinking, just watch – because something will happen.

“And it’s not just his technique. He’s a strong player, hard to knock off the ball. United have a strong team in the middle of the park, they’re physical and they shut teams down – and it’s not an easy pitch.

“But I’ve always enjoyed coaching Tommy. I had him for a number of years with the national team.

“Even as a manager, I get excited when he’s out there playing his football.

“Tommy is one of those guys I take great pride in working with and seeing him develop.”

David Turnbull also netted an impressive goal in an utterly one-sided first half, flicking the ball over Benjamin Siegrist and knocking home following Callum McGregor’s lofted pass.

Liam Scales added his first Celtic goal late on with a first-time finish following a smart move involving fellow substitutes Nir Bitton and Liel Abada.

“From the first minute to the last, we had good energy, good tempo, scored some good goals and missed many more,” Postecoglou said.

“We scored the hard ones and missed the easy ones. That’s the lot of a manager, mate.

“Look, I think it’s important for the guys who got them. Tommy has been fantastic for us but probably just lacked that bit of ruthlessness in front of goal. So it was fantastic for him to get his goal.

“Davie has been brilliant for us and he’s a player who wants to improve every day. I know how much he enjoys scoring and getting assists, so it was good to see him get his goal.

“And it was a good move for the Scales goal. Any player starting their Celtic career, they want a good start. The dream is to score a goal – and he did that.”

Dundee United manager Tam Courts admitted his team could not get close enough to Celtic but gave the visitors credit.

“You can see they are a very slick outfit, they have got a strong squad and a lot of top performers, and we probably allowed them to get too much control and too much rhythm in the early part of the game,” he said.

“That was partly because they are very good players and partly because we just couldn’t get our distances right to get any real control in the game, or at least make some physical contact.

“We’re just in a little moment just now where we have been very reliant on the same players to perform and perform admirably for us. We’re just in a moment where the squad is a bit stretched.

“We’re just having one of those tricky periods in a season but we’re calm, we’re focused, we know where we need to get to. It’s more about giving Celtic credit than actually looking at any failings we’ve got.”