Joe Hart admits his manager is a hard man to get a smile out of at the best of times and he didn’t need to be told Ange Postecoglou wasn’t a happy man after the failed Arctic expedition.
The keeper reckons everyone in the Hoops dressing room had the same grumpy look in the wake of the Europa Conference League campaign hitting the buffers against Bodo/Glimt.
Hart admitted Celts were way off it across the two legs and while there are bigger prizes at stage for the club this season, that doesn’t mean anyone gets off Scott free from a miserable couple of results.
The no.1 said: “Have you ever seen the manager look happy? That’s just his face!
“Of course he wasn’t happy. None of us were happy.
“But we’re certainly not going to get too down about it. We have got big stuff ahead.
“Every game we go in to we have the intention of winning and playing out brand of football.
“We haven’t don’t it tonight. What can we do? Nothing.
“But we can move on to Sunday and do our best to perform and win again.
“There is a bigger picture – and that’s the only picture.
“It’s really simple. While we were in this competition it was in our picture to win it.
“Of course it was. We are out not but we are still in the league and the cup and that’s what we’ll focus on.”
Hart did his best to inject a bit of life in to the side in front of him in Norway last night but it was a thankless task.
Celtic started badly and never got going against a well drilled side who have shocked a few teams this season.
But Hart refused to pass the buck and he said: “Look, we stick together. We work hard. Sometimes we have to point things out to each other.
“It was tough to be 4-1 down in the tie away from home. Sometimes you need to try to push each other.
“I think we were beaten by the better team over two legs. Bodo deserved to win the tie.
“The home game was a pretty even affair and I felt we were dominant in terms of having control of the game.
“Bodo took their chances which was obviously key. It set them up for this game but we didn’t start particularly well.
“The goal made it difficult. We have a focus and a standard no matter what the scoreline is or what situation we are in.
“We work hard and stick to our principles and we believe we will gain more, even if we lose.”
Hart refused to make excuses – even though Postecoglou made some huge calls with his team.
The manager denied he had half an eye on Hibs on Sunday – but the teammsheet said otherwise.
Six of the best were left on the bench, with the likes of Jota, Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate kept on ice in the frozen north.
But Hart said: “The manager has the squad he wants. It doesn’t matter who players or in what position. We play as a squad.
“The XI represent the other 15 or 16 who don’t play. That’s our jobs – to represent this club and for us to be successful we have to stick together.
“The message is the same every game. It’s so clear from this manager. No matter what we always review and see what we can do better, if we’ve won 5-0 or lose 5-1, like we have in this tie.
“We look for improvement no matter what. The games are coming thick and fast so we have to move on.
“We put every game to bed and look to impose ourselves next time. We believe that will win us more games than not.”
Skipper McGregor canoe on for the second half but the tie was down the drain by that stage.
He admitted Celtic paid the price for failing to hit the standards that have fired them to the top of the table in Scotland.
McGregor said: “The reality is that we didn't play well enough over the two legs.
"You can talk about having the ball, controlling the game and creating chances.
"But at this level, you have to take them.
"When you don't do that, you always give the opposition a chance.
"Over the two legs, Bodo showed their quality when they got their moments.”
It was a tough night in a hard environment but McGregor certainly wasn’t going to be blaming the wintery weather.
Celtic paid the price for failing to take their chances in Glasgow and it was a similar tale in the Arctic Circle when opportunities fluffed at crucial times.
McGregor said: “It was difficult conditions on a difficult pitch against a good side.
"You are 2-0 down from the first leg so it's never going to be an easy task.
"We didn't start the game well at all to be honest and we gave the impetus.
"It was difficult to recover from that point.
"We had a bit of a go in the second half and we had the chance with Daizen Maeda to get back in it.
"But over the two legs, we have to accept that we didn't play anywhere near the level we are capable of, or have been so far this season.”
