Ange Postecoglou hails Celtic new faces as Parkhead boss gives blunt response to Reo Hatate comparison

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou hailed his trio of Japanese stars, but dismissed comparisons between Reo Hatate and Shunsuke Nakamura.

The three January signings were all given their first run-out as the hosts swept Hibs aside at Parkhead. Striker Daizen Maeda opened the scoring and Hatate was the best player on the park on the night, as Yosuke Ideguchi made his debut from the bench.

A fine first half performance secured a 2-0 win, in a match which also saw Jota make his injury return off the bench. That saw Celtic cut the gap at the top of the Premiership to three points, with Rangers in action on Tuesday, and the manager was impressed with his three J-League January signings.

Postecoglou said on BBC Radio Scotland: "They did well."That was part of the process of bringing them in early, they've had a good week-week and a half with the lads to train with them."All three new boys did well and it was great for Jota to get on the pitch as well, and James Forrest who has been injury interrupted."So there were a lot of positives there but we'll get stronger, we need to get stronger, and that's what we'll keep working on."Hatate was given Man of the Match on his Celtic debut, with the midfielder impressing with his range of passing.That led Chick Young to compare him to Parkhead icon Shunsuke Nakamura, but Postecoglou wasn't entirely on board with that.He replied: "No, he's Reo Hatate mate."He'll make his own mark and he's a very talented young player and a very determined young man."They're all different, like I said, and he's one who has his eyes on reaching the very top in football and I'm glad to have him at our football club."We're just going to try and get the best out of him and push him to the levels we know he can