Ange Postecoglou digs out Celtic stars but admits 'main culprit' Jota served up perfect response

Ange Postecoglou admits his Celtic stars addressed first-half wastefulness in their opening day victory over Aberdeen. Star man Jota capped a 2-0 victory over Aberdeen with a sublime late strike after Stephen Welsh put the champions ahead in the opening minutes.

But Postecoglou reckons the Portuguese attacker was the "main culprit" in a period of first-half sloppiness that left the Parkhead boss frustrated. Perhaps with his manager's words still ringing in his ears, Jota 's brilliance lit up Celtic Park 15 minutes from time on another flag day victory and his second-half showing earned praise from Postecoglou.

However, it was a reminder of the high standards the Celtic boss expects as he demanded better than the "wasteful" finishing that could have put his side well clear on the scoresheet. Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Good goal, he's obviously got that in his locker where he can take people on, he's one of the ones, I thought he started brightly but I thought he was one of the main culprits to why we fell away a bit before half time, just being wasteful in possession.

"I said to all the boys 'you can have lofty ambitions but you've got to be at your best all the time', you can't be 95 per cent and achieve what you want to achieve. As I said, they addressed that in the second half and I thought he was particularly better in the second half."

The Celtic manager still rated his side's performance as "decent" but wants them to find that ruthless streak again quickly. He said: "Not too bad, I thought we started the game really well, first half hour, we were really in control and aggressive. I thought we got a bit slack towards the end of the first half. Our passing got a bit lax, we weren't quite as aggressive in our