Ange Postecoglou reckons his late father would have been proud of the sizzling show which blasted Celtic into the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup.
But the Aussie reiterated the need for more signings to help his in-form troops maintain the team’s rocketing momentum.
Postecoglou’s men produced some scintillating attacking play as they sank Hearts to book a quarter-final clash with Raith Rovers.
Star men such as Kyogo Furuhashi and Odsonne Edouard as well as playmakers James Forrest and Tom Rogic were magnificent in the win as a near-packed Parkhead savoured their offensive unit in full flight.
Postecoglou loved the performance and said his dad Jim would have looked down from above and approved.
He said: “That’s the kind of football my father instilled in me.
“He’s up there now, but I always envisage him in the stands and think about what he’d say about the team.
“He was never raptured by results, he just wanted to see a certain type of football.
“And I know he would have been up off his chair in the first-half, especially.
“We played great, but more importantly the players enjoyed it and they got their rewards.
“I thought the first hour we were really good, the best football we played this year.
“We dominated and the only thing we didn’t take advantage of was some unbelievable opportunities to put the game to bed.
“The football was outstanding, the intent was outstanding. We never took our foot off the pedal and credit to the players in the middle of a heavy schedule that they were able to push that far in.
“The last half hour we got a bit ragged for sure, a bit of fatigue set in, some lapses in concentration, but I was really pleased with the football we played.
“You are never going to totally dominate a game for 90 minutes. It doesn’t matter who you are, there’s always going to be times when the opposition get into the game.
“For the most important thing is our intent. If our intent is always to be aggressive, then even when we are under a little bit of pressure then we can ride through that.
“In the last 20 minutes we still had opportunities. We were careless in some things, but that doesn’t take away from the football we played in the early part.
“It’s motivation more than pride. The players are really buying into it, which is great, that’s what I need.
“We are getting belief in our football and getting rewards from that belief.
“I just want to keep fertilising that to keep us growing as a football team.
“Once they see the possibilities, they commit to it totally and, hopefully, that encourages them to do it more and keep improving.”
Postecoglou was able to get new signing James McCarthy onto the park for valuable game-time, but insists he needs more signings and provisions to help avoid the type of errors which brought the loss of two second-half goals to Hearts.
The Aussie said: “I keep saying it, we need more players to support the ones we have. It was great getting James some game time.
“Some of them are putting in enormous shifts with some playing 90 minutes and others 70 minutes.
“The mistakes don’t have to happen, but, unfortunately, that’s the position we’re in at the moment.
“Hopefully, getting a few more players in will allow us to maintain the standard for 90 minutes.”
Celtic produced their attacking show without injured duo Ryan Christie and Liel Abada, but Postecoglou hopes both will be ready for Wednesday’s Europa League crunch against AZ Alkmaar.
He said: “I hope Ryan’s going to be okay. He was a bit sore on Saturday and right now we’re not sure how he’ll be.
“Abada should be fine. He was really close to making it, but we didn’t want to risk him as we’re going to need his energy on Wednesday night.
“If you look at our goals, we’re getting them from a few players. And if we play the football we can play then whoever plays in that front three will get goals. We don’t just rely on one player, the goals are shared.”
