Pat Bonner urged Ange Postecoglou on BBC Sportsound (25/11, 19:34) to see that Celtic improve defensively after losing at Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League on Thursday.
Die Werkself dumped the Bhoys out of the competition with late goals from Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby. Filipe Jota had put the Hoops ahead early in the second-half, after Josip Juranovic’s penalty cancelled out Andrich’s 16th-minute opener.
Andrich headed home to open the scoring, as Leverkusen applied heaps of early pressure that Celtic failed to address. Running in from the edge of the box to find the far corner.
Celtic responded to find their composure to establish a presence, albeit without much bite. But Lukas Hradecky gave the Bhoys a break when he caught Kyogo Furuhashi in the box.
Yet Leverkusen enjoyed further chances, with Diaby and Florian Wirtz rattling the posts. Joe Hart also had to produce a fine double save to deny Diaby and Amine Adli. Before the Hoops stopper’s throw to James Forrest started the move that led to Jota striking home.
Celtic relied on Hart to deny Adli again and maintain their lead, but he could not prevent Andrich from emphatically drilling the ball between his legs to pull Leverkusen back level.
His goal gave the home team the momentum, before Diaby shattered Celtic’s hopes with a 20-yard volley to seal top spot in Group G for Leverkusen and the Bhoys’ exit in third-place.
Bonner issues Postecoglou task after Celtic lose to Leverkusen
Former Celtic goalkeeper Bonner now wants Postecoglou to work on improving the Bhoys defensively after their defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.
“You can talk all about the good work all you want. But if you can’t keep the ball out of the net, then you’ll get nowhere,” Bonner said.
“The attacking football is great to watch but defensively, it’s just as important.”
Celtic are back at Parkhead on Sunday against Aberdeen, and will be looking to respond to losing to Bayer Leverkusen.
The result sees the Hoops drop out of the Europa League and into the Europa Conference League. They will play a Europa Conference League group stage runner-up in a play-off.
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