Ange Postecoglou admits his Celtic stars addressed first-half wastefulness in their opening day victory over Aberdeen. Star man Jota capped a 2-0 victory over Aberdeen with a sublime late strike after Stephen Welsh put the champions ahead in the opening minutes.
But Postecoglou reckons the Portuguese attacker was the "main culprit" in a period of first-half sloppiness that left the Parkhead boss frustrated. Perhaps with his manager's words still ringing in his ears, Jota 's brilliance lit up Celtic Park 15 minutes from time on another flag day victory and his second-half showing earned praise from Postecoglou.
However, it was a reminder of the high standards the Celtic boss expects as he demanded better than the "wasteful" finishing that could have put his side well clear on the scoresheet. Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Good goal, he's obviously got that in his locker where he can take people on, he's one of the ones, I thought he started brightly but I thought he was one of the main culprits to why we fell away a bit before half time, just being wasteful in possession.
"I said to all the boys 'you can have lofty ambitions but you've got to be at your best all the time', you can't be 95 per cent and achieve what you want to achieve. As I said, they addressed that in the second half and I thought he was particularly better in the second half."
The Celtic manager still rated his side's performance as "decent" but wants them to find that ruthless streak again quickly. He said: "Not too bad, I thought we started the game really well, first half hour, we were really in control and aggressive. I thought we got a bit slack towards the end of the first half. Our passing got a bit lax, we weren't quite as aggressive in our press.
"I thought in the second half we addressed that, overall, a decent performance but I thought we were wasteful in front of goal, or could have been a bit more clinical. You can be patient but if there's chances there you take them.
"I thought they were good chances, I thought we were a bit wasteful with our decision making in front of goal. It's an area, we score goals, we've got goalscorers right throughout the team but I felt today we just lacked a bit of decisiveness in front of goal."
It was put to Postecoglou that the very early stage of the season was reason enough for his side not finding their clinical edge but, in trademark style, the Aussie wasn't having it.
He said: "It's the first game of the season, mate, are we supposed to wait for the third? If the chances are there you take them, that's the game of football. Apart from that, I thought our football was decent for the most part."
