Ange Postecoglou made a confession last night- that could be interpreted as a message to the Celtic board over the lack of squad strength.
After losing to Midtjylland in the Champions League the Celtic boss subtly suggested that maybe he hadn’t emphasised enough how much the side needed new players. For the matches against the Danes Liel Abada was the only addition to his squad.
Without seven players last night against Real Betis Celtic put up a decent showing but as the hosts made five substitutions the only player that Postecoglou threw on was James McCarthy.
Other than Stephen Welsh and one appearance Dane Murray there was no outfield player on the Celtic bench to have started a match this season.
Abada will be available for Sunday’s match at Livingston but after 90 tiring minutes in the south of Spain last night it will virtually be the same players in action again on Sunday.
Reflecting on his lack of options, Postecoglou told The Sun:
We set our stall out to be a certain kind of team, and at 4-2 we didn’t have any attacking players on the bench so I couldn’t really make any substitutions to make a difference.
The players just had to suck it up, and they did that. At the end I thought we could get another one to get even, but it wasn’t to be. Tony Ralston has been outstanding, but he’s missed a few games.
It was Cameron’s second game, Carl has just come in this year. It’s Josip’s third or fourth game. It’s going to take time for us to get that defensive understanding.
Next up for Celtic in the Europa League is a home match against Bayer Leverkusen who beat Ferencvaros 1-0 last night.
Celtic listed nine substitutes last night, three less than Betis.