Everything that Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said to the media after the 2-1 Premiership win over Motherwell...

What did you make of the performance tonight?

It was a bit of a grind tonight. We never really got into the rhythm we wanted. Credit to Motherwell for really hard. We didn’t start well and complicated things. We made the game difficult for ourselves. But it’s not easy away from home so another win is good.

Is there any reason why you did not get into a rhythm?

They worked hard and disrupted us. When we’re playing well we move the ball quickly and find simple solutions. We tried to be too cute and didn’t play the obvious pass. We didn’t control the game the way we wanted to.

Did the character of the team please you as they got the job done again?

My role is to assess performance and we could play better but a big part of this team is their character when we’re not at our best. Winning away from home in the Premiership is never easy. The fact that we found a way again and all credit to the lads.

You were denied a goal of the season with Kyogo's pass to Jota for the finish and it is another marginal one isn't it?

Yeah, I thought it was a good move. But we had good opportunities to take advantage of the space out there. It just happened too infrequently.

Are these the games that please you because you are grinding them out and maybe you are not happy with the overall performance?

I don't like to grind mate. I prefer to play well in every game but over the course of the season, that’s impossible. I want us to play well all the time but they’re human beings. We’ve had perfect league form in a period of real fixture congestions, including Europe. There won’t be many teams in Europe who have gone through that and had the results we’ve had. I’ve got no doubt that we can finish strong on Saturday. All the boys who have come through this will feel better about themselves for having come through it. Obviously, we’ve got a strong squad but sometimes that makes it tough, too, because you bring players in and it changes things.

Celtic Way:

How proud will you be if you get that flawless league record through this period?

It’s not about pride. It is important for us as we continue to build and become a better side, the more we’re resilient through difficult times, they will always come, it’s never all going to be easy, and that’s great. We've got to finish strong on Saturday and that's the key to it all. If we finish strong and the boys come through this they will feel better about themselves.

All the talk was of Kyogo and Reo Hatate not making the World Cup but Daizen Maeda is going to Qatar does he fly under the radar?

It depends on what you’re looking at. Not internally. He works so hard for the team. He's surrounded by other attackers who are totally different to him. He doesn’t get the headlines. But the contribution he makes is immense. I left him out for the last couple of games to freshen him up. He was outstanding again. The subs coming on were really important for us and Daizen's finished it off. At the weekend it was Kyogo. The lads have a good attitude about embracing the fact that I am rotating the team, which is not easy because they all want to play all the time.

Steve Clarke expressed his disappointment at Celtic withholding their players what is your response to that?

It’s fair enough that he's disappointed because he is in charge of the national team. There is no issue there I get disappointed when players go away with the national team and don't play and get injured. We are all big boys and we can get on with it. It is not our issue it's FIFA who designated it as it is not an international window. We’ve had our trip in planning for a long time, it’s important for our club and supporters. I have no issues with Steve. If he was the club manager, he probably wouldn’t release the players.

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