Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes was full of admiration for Ange Postecoglou after his side suffered a 2-0 defeat in the east end of Glasgow at the weekend.
The scoreline really wasn’t a true reflection on the game as the league leaders absolutely pummelled the Ayrshire side towards the end of the game and really the there should have been more goals in the game which wasn’t from the want of trying on Celtic’s part.
Jota fired the Scottish champions ahead for his first goal since his magnificent strike in the Santiago Bernabeu at the beginning of November. Some great play down the right hand side between Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate conjured up the second as Kyogo’s strike deflected off Ash Taylor to double the Hoops advantage.
In years gone by, McInnes has been rather reserved when it comes to praising any Celtic side having spent such a long time at Aberdeen but at the weekend even he couldn’t resist as he gave Postecoglou and Celtic credit.
During that time at the Dons he came up against Brendan Rodgers’ Invincible team but reckons this side may just be even better.
“I’ve come here to play against various Celtic teams over the years and maybe none as good as this one,” said Derek McInnes as quoted by Football Scotland.
“I don’t want to be disparaging to that team who proved themselves – they were unbelievably relentless. But this Celtic team have a lot of players at the right age with improvement in them.
“There’s a lot of hunger and intensity about them – they don’t let you breathe. They’re two good teams and it would be wrong to say one is better than the other. But look at their bench today – Turnbull, Giakoumakis, Forrest, Abada and O’Riley.
“Their age and energy was quite telling in the last 15 minutes when they cranked it up today. They’ve got a lot of answers but we need to find an answer next week and we’re determined to do that.”
Celtic will again face Kilmarnock for the second time during a week in the Viaplay Cup semi final at Hampden which will be an entirely different affair at the national stadium as the Hoops look to retain the first trophy won under Postecoglou.
