No mate, I am not a violin player- honest Ange offers no excuses

Even in defeat Celtic fans can’t help but admire the honesty of Ange Postecoglou.

A 2-1 defeat to Sydney FC came loaded with plenty of excuses but the Celtic boss didn’t want to insult anyone with yarns about the impact of arriving in Australia three days earlier, missing four players on duty at the World Cup Finals plus three other regulars in Joe Hart, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Moritz Jenz, or the friendly tag for the match.

Postecoglou has made his mark on the Celtic squad and got the support hanging on his every word by delivering honesty at every turn.

Returning to Australia to get beaten by an A-League club wasn’t on the script but listening in to the post-match media conference the Daily Record reported typical straight talking from the Celtic boss:

No mate. I am not a violin player. We get on with it. They probably are tired. So what? The game was today, it is not tomorrow. That’s the way it is and we were not anywhere near the levels we needed to be at but that is part of the learning process for everyone. I understand it is not easy and it is a long trip and you are getting off there and in any game of football there are always excuses if you want them. We have chosen not to do that in the past and that is what we’ll do today.

The Celtic squad can anticipate a couple of full-on training sessions before facing Everton on Sunday, after a week off it will be back to business on a training trip to Portugal as the boss plots ahead to the SPFL resuming on December 17 at Aberdeen.