Ange Postecoglou pronounced himself satisfied with Joe Hart’s Celtic debut- and almost apologised to the former England keeper for chucking him in at the deep end.
In mid-afternoon on Tuesday Celtic announced the signing of Hart, just over 48 hours later he was trying to work out what system the central defenders in front of him were playing.
Twice Celtic established two goal leads but both times their defence was opened up to invite Jablonec back into the tie.
Fortunately, there was no time for the Czech side to respond to Ryan Christie’s late header allowing Celtic to take a two-goal advantage into the home match.
Between now and next Thursday it’s likely that Postecoglou’s training ground focus will be on the Celtic defence that has lost two goals in each of their last three matches.
Picking up on Postecoglou’s post-match interview with Radio Scotland, the Daily Record reports:
Joe was okay, I think he had one save to make right at the end. It’s awfully hard, getting thrown in after a couple days of training… Joe had one day of training, Carl is the same, Kyogo.
I’m literally throwing in guys and it’s a bit unfair on them to adjust. But they put their hands up to play and it’s the situation we’re in at the moment. Joe will improve and for us it’s really important he gets a good understanding of our game.
Scott Bain and Vasilis Barkas were both listed as substitutes.