Ange Postecoglou reveals why he made controversial Celtic decision

For a while, it had looked like Celtic were headed for a famous win away in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen. The hosts had taken an early lead but goals from Josip Juranovic and Jota had put Ange Postecoglou’s side in the driver’s seat. And with a mixture of luck and an inspired Joe Hart in goal, they held on to their lead for quite some time, and it was starting to look like all three points were in their sights.

A win, or even a draw, would have meant that they kept their Europa League knock out phase hopes alive as well. But it was not to be for the Hoops.

As has been the case often in Europe in recent times, Celtic got into a great position against a more favoured teams but then could not hold on to their lead and ultimately tasted defeat.

Many fans believed that the manager’s decision to substitute the front three, especially an in-form Jota, played a big part in them losing control of the game. Talking about the decision, as reported by The Herald, the manager said:

"“He is going well.“We took him off because him and James in the front three worked really hard.“I felt we needed some extra energy particularly in the wide areas and we had two players on the bench to do that. I felt it was a good time to make the substitutions.”"

Postecoglou has explained his controversial Celtic decision

To be honest, Jota has played a tremendous amount of football in recent times and needs rest from time to time. He has barely gotten that though due to the lack of options at Parkhead right now. One also has to remember that this is the Portuguese winger’s first taste of regular first-team football.

Thus, Celtic have to be careful with how much they play him. Fatigue could turn out to be a real problem in the latter portions of the season otherwise and the risk of injury is there every time you take to the pitch.

The bigger problem for Celtic right now is their lack of depth. They need to have options on the bench who they can bring on in order to grind out results, when the situation calls for it.