ANGE POSTECOGLOU has taken umbrage at comments made by Hibernian manager Lee Johnson, who said this week that the Scottish Premiership was becoming ‘almost too easy’ for the Australian and his Celtic team.
Postecoglou bristled a little at Johnson’s phrasing, saying that the use of the term ‘easy’ – just as with Michael Beale’s use of ‘lucky’ to describe him – was no accident, and that he would never use such terms to describe a fellow head coach.
Furthermore, he dismissed Johnson’s overall theory out of hand, saying it has taken a tremendous deal of work on both his own and his players’ behalf to get Celtic to the position they are currently in.
"Every manager is allowed to use their platform in any way they want and say what they want,” Postecoglou said.
"I don't think it's accidental that the words 'lucky' and 'easy' are used. They aren't words I would use to describe any manager.
"If you are in this job, irrespective of anything, the one thing you know is that it's not easy. If people think I come in here at midday, spend a couple of hours, have a cappuccino and then go home to the family, then they are kidding themselves on.
"I think they know that, but the use of those words is probably deliberate. That's fine. If that is what people believe, they are allowed to do that.
"What I know is that within this building, nothing comes easy for us. We need to work hard and there are a lot of expectations on the players and the staff every day.
"That's what we do. Whether that impresses others or doesn't, the only thing we care about is our supporters - and they are pretty happy with how we are going.
"It's pretty much known that we are playing under huge pressure every week.
"If other people think that's easy in some way, then that's their opinion.”
Meanwhile, Postecoglou is relishing tomorrow's trip to face Ross County, saying that while Malky Mackay's relegation-threatened team will be hugely motivated, his men will be hard to stop if they hit top gear in the Highlands.
"They all have something to play for, but we are also extremely motivated to win games of football," he said.
"In certain games, there can be desperation around everything but you just need to be ready for that.
"We have been up to Dingwall a few times now and it's always a good challenge against Malky's team.
"They set up well defensively, they have physicality and there will be threats we need to deal with.
"But if we impose our own football on the game, we know we are hard to stop."
