26 February 2022

Ange Postecoglou insists Celtic have got to perform better against Hibernian

26 February 2022

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has told his players they will need to improve on their performance in Norway if they are to get the result they want at Easter Road.

Celtic fell to a 2-0 defeat against Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle on Thursday to go down to a 5-1 aggregate defeat by the Norwegian champions in the Europa Conference League.

Postecoglou’s side never really got going in an attacking sense over the two legs against a side who are in the midst of their pre-season preparations.

Celtic’s focus now turns solely to domestic matters and Postecoglou looked like he might have been considering Sunday’s game against Hibernian when he picked his team in Norway.

Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Jota and Liel Abada were all rested from the start in Norway and could all return to the starting line-up against Hibs.

Postecoglou, whose side lead cinch Premiership champions Rangers by three points, told Celtic TV: “We have got to perform better. That’s the first thing.

“We have another difficult game away from home against a good side so we have to make sure we perform at the levels we have been consistently.”

Celtic lost their first three away league games of the season immediately after defeats on the road in Europe but they have won their previous two games after returning from foreign trips.

Postecoglou’s side won 4-2 at Dundee with an unchanged starting line-up three days after beating Ferencvaros in Hungary and beat Aberdeen 2-1 at Celtic Park after losing a five-goal thriller in Leverkusen.

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