He was great – Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou hails two-goal Reo Hatate after win

Posted Sunday, December 25, 2022 by PA

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou hailed Reo Hatate’s adaptability after the midfielder scored two goals from the right-back position in the cinch Premiership leaders’ 4-1 win over St Johnstone.

With Anthony Ralston injured and Josip Juranovic on a post-World Cup break, the Japan international was asked to perform an unfamiliar role and came close to a hat-trick when he hit the outside of the post.

Postecoglou said: “He was great. I had to get creative. To be fair, if it didn’t work, it would have been (assistant) John Kennedy’s idea.

He was great – Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou hails two-goal Reo Hatate after win — Reo Hatate came close to scoring a hat-trick from full-back (Jane Barlow/PA)

“With the way we set up, you can disrupt the whole team and I thought the easiest thing for us was to put a player there who maybe wasn’t familiar with the position.

“Reo has played left-back earlier in his career, which I knew from Japan, but he’s not a full-back, that’s for sure.

“But I thought any frailties we may have had defensively he would give us plenty going the other way and make us even more dangerous.

“Credit to him, I thought even defensively he did a good job and kept his discipline and his position. As soon as I told him, he was all in.”

Kyogo Furuhashi also netted a double before Drey Wright pulled one back for the visitors.

Each side had VAR to thank for overturning offside decisions for a goal but the technology came back to bite Celtic in stoppage time when Kevin Clancy upgraded a yellow card to red for David Turnbull after the Hoops substitute caught Remi Matthews in the face with a high boot. The midfielder will now miss games against Hibernian and Rangers.

Postecoglou said: “The referee dealt with it, gave him a yellow card, but nowadays obviously there are other eyes on it.

“The keeper was getting treatment for how long? And then we wait until the keeper is up on his feet to go and check it. It just takes too long, there is no need.

“I’m disappointed for Bull because I don’t think there was any intent.”

🎙 Ange Postecoglou 𝗢𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵
💬 "We scored four but we probably could have had a few more with a bit of luck. So credit to the boys, I thought it was a good performance."#CELSTJ | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG 🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 24, 2022

Saints boss Callum Davidson admitted he may have played a part in the defeat after starting with Stevie May and Nicky Clark up front.

“We wanted to press them a bit higher,” Davidson said. “When we got it wrong it allowed them to play in pockets and slide passes in behind.

“So I take a little bit of responsibility for that but I thought we played some decent stuff. Then you find yourself 3-0 down and you just have to make sure it’s a respectable scoreline.

“We changed the shape second half and the game sort of died down.”

After the game, Postecoglou threw his trademark jumper into the crowd during his customary walk around the pitch.

“There were a few with signs,” the Celtic manager said. “Obviously they want something from the players and the players had already gone past so I thought I would spread some goodwill and cheer with my jumper and tie.

Ange Postecoglou delivers 📦#CELSTJ | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG🍀 pic.twitter.com/MvGIWgZpCs
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 24, 2022

“And I was stopping there because I wouldn’t have done anyone any favours after that.

“It’s an important time of the year. A lot of people in society have it tough at this time of the year but I’m sure our supporters, whatever troubles they may have, will be sitting around the Christmas table with smiles on their faces, and for us that’s really important.”