ANGE POSTECOGLOU believes that his Celtic side is still far from where he wants them to be. There are still many things that the boss wishes to improve, one of these is the overreliance on the Celtic Park crowd.

On Sunday, there were many empty seats around the ground. The poor weather, mixed in with it being the holiday weekend and facing a team in the division below Celtic, help explain this.

The first half witnessed an abysmal display from the team. Postecoglou was far from happy with his players.

Instead of finding excuses for poor performances, Ange assured fans that he is working with his players on the training pitch to eradicate the need to justify a poor performance. [Celtic TV]

Asked if the low key atmosphere contributed to the lack of intensity in the first half against Raith Rovers, Ange replied:

“Potentially it could but it’s one of those things I would like to eliminate. A bit like refereeing decisions, or our schedule, or injuries.

All of those things you can use as a clutch for not doing certain things. But I think the things I was talking about on Sunday in the first-half should be givens irrespective.

If we’re playing in the local park just amongst ourselves then bringing in that right intent, that work ethic, that bravery and encourage that I want in our football, then we shouldn’t have to rely on our crowd to create an atmosphere that brings that.

Sometimes in a derby game it might be easy to do those things because the crowd’s behind you and everyone is up for it.

that’s not what the best teams do and it’s not what the best players do.

They bring it every time irrespective of the conditions.

So I’m reluctant and I won’t make allowances and I didn’t make allowances for our performance in the first-half because maybe the atmosphere wasn’t at the levels we’ve experienced before.

That’s no excuse.”

The atmosphere encourages the team to push forward. The lack of this may help explain why the team was so comfortable passing the ball back rather than forward on Sunday.

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