Postecoglou makes case for defence as his Bhoys see off Motherwell

Ange Postecoglou praised his newly-formed central defence after they helped 10-man Celtic close out a 2-1 victory over Motherwell.

Stephen Welsh and Moritz Jenz again deputised with established centre-back pairing Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers still injured.

The pair first played together in a 4-1 Premier Sports Cup win over Ross County but were then installed for the trip to Paisley which ended Celtic's 364-day unbeaten run in the cinch Premiership with defeat to St Mirren.

A defensive mix-up gifted Motherwell an equaliser on Saturday but that was down to a communication breakdown between goalkeeper Joe Hart and right-back Josip Juranovic, whose chested passback went over the line.

On his central defenders, Postecoglou said: "They did okay, they did well. They didn't have to do too much defending. They stepped out a few times which is good.

"It's hard because last year Carl and Cam were mainstays, neither of them really got injured.

"I have always felt centre-back pairings are really important in terms of understanding, in terms of knowing each other's movements, the sort of idiosyncrasies they have.

"When you put one in, it's a lot easier to adjust. But for Welshy and Mo, who has only been with for us a couple of months, as a new defensive pairing it's not easy.

"Especially with the way we play, because they have a lot of the ball, we are very aggressive with our defending, they have to do a lot of one-on-one defending and covering at the same time.

"So it's not easy but I think every game they play they will get a better understanding of one another, which I think will help us.

"You can have as strong a squad as possible but in my experience in football every now and then you will get hit in the same area and you