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Ange Postecoglou admits Celtic players fed off the energy provided by 60,000 supporters in Parkhead as they cruised past Jablonec.
The Czech side couldn’t cope with Celtic’s quality and relentless movement as they ran out 3-0 winners on home turf to secure progression 7-2 on aggregate in the Europa League qualifier.
David Turnbull’s double, either side of the interval, put Celtic in a commanding position before substitute James Forrest added a third on 73 minutes.
Postecoglou was delighted with his side’s performance and he reserved special praise for a few players – and the sell-out crowd.
“It was pleasing,” Postecoglou admitted. “We started really well, the football was great, and for the first 25 minutes we were the kind of team we want to be. We fed off the energy of the great support we had in here.
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‘We lost our way a little in the last 15 minutes, but in the second half we picked up again and played some really good football.
“It’s a tough ask of players to play at that intensity, with that energy, with such a heavy schedule but they are willing themselves to do it.
“We will get better, but I’m super pleased with the rewards tonight.
“Dave (Turnbull) has been great the whole way through, but I think he has got a little bit frustrated with himself that he hasn’t scored, and it was great for him to get two goals tonight, but his football has been great for us all the way through.
“And James, there was a great opportunity for us to give him a start tonight.
“It was great that he got his goal and he worked awfully hard. Tommy Rogic I thought was outstanding, and Cal led that midfield really well.
“The back four were great, and Joe when he is needed.
“For us, at the weekend it was Ryan and Kyogo that got the headlines, but tonight it was two or three other guys and that’s the kind of team we want to be.”
Celtic face a tough challenge in the play-off round against Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar with the first leg set to be played next Wednesday night and Postecoglou knows it’ll be a step up in quality.
He added: “We were disappointed when we dropped out of the Champions League and now we’ve got a chance to stay and compete in the Europa League.
“It’s a tough ask against a good quality opponent in AZ, but we want to be in the competitions that we qualify for.
“It’s hard for me, I don’t want to measure our progress. I like seeing it as game to game, and there has to be more in us because we have only literally had three or four weeks together as a group.”
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