Lee Johnson says he was surprised to see Ange Postecoglou’s harsh response to his comments about the Scottish Premiership being ‘almost too easy’ for Celtic.
Postecoglou wasn't happy with the claim and also made reference to Michael Beale's comments when the Rangers manager said that the Celtic boss was lucky to have had plenty of money to spend on players.
Postecoglou claimed the choices of words in "easy" and "lucky" were deliberate, and that he would never use them to describe any other manager that way. However, addressing the issue after Hibs' defeat to Motherwell today, Johnson insisted the matter may have been taken out of context when put to Postecoglou and that he has nothing but respect for him.
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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."
Johnson is still smarting from a 3-1 defeat at home to Motherwell which was exacerbated by the fact that Hearts lost at Kilmarnock. He admitted: "We were really poor. I didn't see it coming. I wasn't in the dressing room before the game because I'm not allowed to be, but I suppose I have to hold my hands up and take responsibility.
"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."
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