Celtic are in the middle of a good run of form at the moment, although their nine game unbeaten run game to an end in midweek at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen. It was a disappointing result for the Hoops, who now have no chance of making it to the knockout phase of the Europa League. And the manner of the defeat was arguably more disappointing than the result.

Celtic conceded two late goals, with the game ending 3-2 in Bayer Leverkusen’s favour ultimately. While that was a huge disappointment, to not take even a point despite leading for a long period of time, there was still a lot to be pleased with in the performance and the goals scored.

Former Rangers player, Alex Rae, does not appear to be a big fan of Celtic’s attacking approach to things, even

As reported by the Daily Record, Rae said on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard:

“He (Ange Postecoglou) has to learn that he has to dig out a result having got in a brilliant position.

“It’s about managing the game through at that particular time.

“You can’t play basketball football against them. You attack, we attack – they have got too much quality at that level.

“When Jota was still on I thought they were a real threat on the transition, but I think it goes back to big Ange asking those players to play 90 minutes time after time.

“At the moment he doesn’t have strength in depth, and January is a massive window to get that quality through the door.”

Rae makes big claim about Celtic manager’s style

Postecoglou must already know that his team need to protect a lead better. They have struggled to do that in Europe, long before the manager arrived at Parkhead.

And with the lack of depth at Celtic right now, it is not hard to see why Postecoglou benched the likes of Jota, Kyogo and James Forrest against Bayer Leverkusen. While that was an important game for the club, there will be many of those over the coming months. And it is necessary for the manager to not overplay players who are in good form right now.

The likes of Jota and Kyogo have played a tremendous amount of football recently, and it is arguable that they need much more rest than they have gotten.

Postecoglou himself has admitted that the squad needs strengthening and talked about the importance of the January transfer window for some time.

This article was originally posted here