Celtic hero Kyogo Furuhashi has vowed to answer Ange Postecoglou’s call for clinical edge.
The Japanese drew a blank in the opening-day win over Aberdeen with the manager later spelling out to his troops the need for them to be more ruthless. Postecoglou was disappointed at his team being wasteful against the Dons and says they can’t fall into a trap of thinking they can be slack due to the mass volume of chances they create.
Furuhashi was unable to convert a couple of half-chances in the opening period of the win over the Dons. But the Asian ace is determined to sharpen up and has targets in mind as he looks to hit the goal trail. Speaking to Japanese outlet jiji.com about his two missed openings, Kyogo said: “I have to be strong enough to make the decisions.” But as he looked to rise to Postecoglou’s challenge, he added: “I want to score 20 or more goals [this season]. Focusing on what is in front of me and continuing to produce results is an appeal to me as a forward.”
Captain Callum McGregor backed the manager’s assessment as he reflected on the victory which got the champions off and running for the new term.
He said: “A lot of the play was good. We had good control and played through the lines really well and we just lacked that sharpness in front of goal. I know it is early on, but we want to keep drumming it into the players that when we get these types of opportunities, we need to try to put them away and be as ruthless as we can.”
Jota, of course, was able to find a cutting edge in spectacular fashion with his early contender for goal of the season.
McGregor believes the Portuguese could do it even more as he added: “It was a terrific strike. We know he has that quality as well and he should more often from outside the box when he gets there. It was a brilliant strike and one worthy of winning any game.”
Celtic were not at their vintage best on the opening day, but the points were secured and it’s onto Saturday’s next test in the Highlands against Ross County. McGregor told Celtic TV: “I thought we started really well (against Aberdeen) and we looked really sharp and played intense football for the first 35 minutes.
“We got a little bit slack towards the end of the first half, but, in the second half, we regained control and Jota scored a great goal just to seal it. We were in good control of the game at that point.”
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