Lee Johnson insists he’d never downplay Ange Postecoglou’s achievements with Celtic.
The Hibs boss drew an angry response from his Hoops counterpart ahead of the weekend Premiership action when he questioned if the Aussie would ever get to a stage where he thinks Scottish football is too easy. Postecoglou is closing in on a Treble after guiding Celtic to a league and cup double in his first season.
Previously, Rangers manager Michael Beale used the word 'lucky' when discussing Celtic's spending capacity in the transfer market and on Friday Postecoglou responded to both claiming “I don't think that it's accidental that the words 'lucky' and 'easy' are used .. they aren't words I would use to describe any manager.”
But Johnson fears his statement on Thursday was taken out of context.
He said: “I saw that. It didn’t sit well with me but I don’t know how it was framed to him. That was not the intention or the tone. But we all know how a nibble is seduced by the wrong context. I have nothing but respect for Celtic, Ange Postecoglou and everyone else. But maybe he’s used it as a bit of a sharpener for his own team.”
Hibs slumped to a third consecutive defeat against Motherwell this afternoon to drop to sixth in the table.
Johnson admits his side was "really poor" - and he blasted the rule that saw him serve a one match ban for an offence he never committed.
The Hibs boss had to watch on from the stands and was unable to address his side in the dressing room after a booking at Celtic Park last week took him over the threshold.
Johnson was cautioned after a member of his staff threw a ball on at Parkhead to break up play and with nobody holding their hand up the manager has to take responsibility.
But the Easter Road boss said: “I couldn’t get into the dressing room. I don’t like it, it’s a stupid rule.
“If I’ve done something book me. If my staff do something book them. You can’t murder somebody then someone else gets done for murder. It doesn’t make sense.
“But we were really poor today. I didn't see it coming.
"We didn't start well at all; technically or physically. We didn't look like us, we didn't turn the opposition at all. Balls that went into centre-forwards were lost quickly and allowed Motherwell to build up a head of steam and it's a really, really frustrating one.
"I did all I could in terms of personnel and shape changes in a bid to get us a foothold but you've got to give Motherwell credit for their performance but I really did feel that there was an opportunity there and it's a massive opportunity missed given the other results - even though we can't expect other results to look after us.
"We have to look after our own performances and build our performances. It's just an inept technical and tactical performance.
"We finished eighth last year and we need to improve on that. Seventh would be an improvement but we need to make sure, pre-split, that we're in the top six, and then we need to make sure we compete for Europe.
"There are enough games left that it's not just about results. We've got to perform well and build the performance. Watching that today, I didn't see our identity. I was up there, with the fans, getting a bird's eye view and frustrated I can't influence it from down below.
"But I just didn't see enough from us, from individuals or as a team. I don't want to put it on the players because I still believe in them but it makes it difficult to pick an XI for the next game."
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