Ange Postecoglou

eltic
Elephant-like mind of Celtic's Ange Postecoglou, refusal to rule out all-time record and revelation he 'doesn't really speak' to players
The occasion of his 100th game at the Celtic helm wouldn’t have been complete without Ange Postecoglou having a wee sidewinder.



The Australian must possess elephant DNA, such is his remarkable recall for slights. And across his 21 months in Scotland he must have had, oh, about 100 nips at those who initially doubted his aptitude and ability to make a success of a highest-profile position. Even as this appointment followed on from a quarter-of-a-century coaching career spent totting up titles. These naysayers considered they had all the ammunition needed to don black caps for the Postecoglou Celtic era when five losses were posted across his opening 12 games, across which he crammed two years worth of squad reconstruction into two months.

The effect was to create a new team practically from scratch that subsequently has formed the core of a set-up now the imperious force in the Scottish game. A championship-winning side that could take notable steps towards a treble – and give him a haul of five honours out of possible six in two seasons – across a Hearts double-header this week, a sequence that will see Robbie Neilson’s men entertained in Wednesday’s Premiership encounter before the Tynecastle club are the hosts for Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final. Not that the live-in-the-present 57-year-old will look beyond the task in hand, which brings up a personal milestone afforded to ever-fewer managers. “And I was really long odds to do it myself, wasn’t I?” he said on that front. “Not all of you said that, but … it’s nice. Sometimes the success of a manager is clearly aligned with longevity. You don’t last too long in this career, or at a club, unless you are actually producing something so, yeah, it’s nice to reach the 100-game mark.”




The league contest will be treated on its merits. Between the two games with the Gorgie men, though, Postecoglou intends to make changes to his starting personnel. But those will be down to scheduling not prioritising. It is a “quirk”, Postecoglou calls it, of this domain that the same opposition can crop up within a matter of days across different competitions. He acknowledges it can make surprising any opponent hardly straightforward, “to an extent”. Yet the quest for constant perfection, and practically internalising the demands he places upon his players, can offset any awkwardness.

“We were in this scenario with Kilmarnock, of playing them in the league then the semi-final of the [Viaplay] cup,” the Celtic manager said. “We have tried to show that each game is its own unique challenge and each game is an opportunity to perform at levels exceeding what we’ve done before, and that’s irrespective of the opponent. I think you embrace these things. Scottish football throws these up sometimes, and we already potentially play each other four times in the league. But from our perspective it doesn’t diminish our ambition or desire to be as relentless as we can be in pursuit of being the best team we can be.”




Celtic have lost only twice in their past 71 domestic outings. They are on an 11-game winning run – the longest of Postecoglou’s tenure – and have won 25, drawn one and lost only one of their 27 top flight matches this season to establish a nine-point advantage. Goals have rained in – 250 netted in his 99 games – and yet Postecoglou won’t settle for back-slapping over the fact his team are averaging more than three per Premiership encounter in this campaign. Could that really be sustained across the closing 11 league games…which would see Celtic’s all-time best of 116, achieved in 1915-16, eclipsed? Heck, you get the impression Postecoglou wouldn’t see Hearts’ 1957-58 Scottish top flight record of 132 out of reach. Even if that would require the champions-elect to batter them in at a rate of more than four a game. “No one has told me otherwise, mate,” he said of whether it was possible to continue on their current net-bulging trajectory, 16 goals the product of their past four Premiership assignments. ‘We will just keep doing what we are doing. Unless somebody tells you to stop doing something you keep going and see how far it takes you.”

 

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou on becoming a GIF and his future focus



I saw that,” he said as he looked ahead to his 100th game in charge of the Glasgow giants yesterday. “I was just wondering what he was actually trying to do. But it’s alright. Whatever rocks people’s boat is fine with me. I would like to think I have a sense of humour.




People in my inner circle think I’m pretty funny, so I will take it in the right sort of light. If people are tickled by it then it’s okay with me.”

Postecoglou will not, however, be amused if his Celtic team fail to maintain their hot streak of domestic form in the remaining weeks of the 2022/23 season despite their comfortable lead over their city rivals Rangers.

His side are nine points clear at the top of the cinch Premiership table going into their league meeting with Hearts – who they also play in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle on Saturday – at Parkhead this evening.

The defending champions are widely expected to retain the Scottish title they won last term. Stopping the Viaplay Cup winners from completing a fifth treble in seven years will take some doing.



Still, their manager is wary of complacency creeping in all the same and will be demanding 90 minute performances from his men – something which he has worked on since being appointed back in 2021 - every time they take to the park.

“I think it’s the responsibility I have here,” he said. “I have made it clear that it’s what I want our approach to be, and our football more specifically.

“The players take their lead off me and if I show any inclination that I am looking too far ahead or looking behind us that gives them the opportunity to do the same. We don’t really talk about anything beyond what’s in front of us and they follow that lead.



What we have seen over the last 18 months is that, at our best, we just keep going for it right until the last minute irrespective of what the opposition is doing or the competition we are in.

“At the moment our fitness levels are really good. We want to finish the season strong and designed it that way. We’ve had some good training and we are finishing games strongly irrespective of how the game has gone.

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t go out there and blow teams away early on as well. That’s still a part of it. The mentality stays the same whatever.”




Celtic are averaging three goals in every league game and will be doing well to maintain that scoring form in the 11 matches they have remaining – not least against their third-placed rivals Hearts at home this evening.

Postecoglou, though, sees no reason to stop going on the offensive. “No one has told me otherwise mate,” he said. “We will just keep doing what we are doing. Unless somebody tells you to stop doing something you keep going and see how far it takes you.

“I’ve said a few times – and people tend to focus on late goals when they are consequential – we get a lot of late goals even if the result is beyond doubt anyway




At the weekend, we are 3-1 up and they are down to 10 men and it would have been very easy to just see the game out. But the lads kept going to score goals right until the final minute. That helps us engage when we do need to score.”

Postecoglou added: “There is a tactical aspect other teams and coaches use where, if they have an advantage or a result, they see games out and do it quite cleverly. There are many different approaches I guess. It just depends on how you set your team up.

“My approach and our approach with regards to the kind of team we want to be is to make sure the game is played until the final whistle and make sure we are still trying to score goals




Postecoglou, who will be without James Forrest for some time after the winger suffered a muscle strain in training, is aware that playing three high-intensity games in six days is asking a lot of his Celtic players and may tweak his starting line-up tonight to ensure his side is at its very best.

“I select a team for every game I think will win the game for us,” he said. “There is nothing else that comes into my thinking. It’s not about giving guys game time or changing things up for the sake of it.

“Every team I select is a team I think is going to win us a game of football or help us perform and I’m not going to change that approach.




But I am giving it (changing his team) some thought. I will have a look tomorrow and see how the guys are. We played on Sunday, so it is a short turnaround to Wednesday and another short turnaround to Saturday.

“Three games in six days is tough and there is no doubt that we won’t go through those three games with the same group of players every time. We will make changes, whether that’s tomorrow or Saturday. There will be changes.”

 

Not true, he attends his coaches clinics!

 

via Microsoft Teams though

 

Brilliant that..

 

Everything Ange Postecoglou had to say to club television in the immediate aftermath of Celtic's SPFL Premiership match against Hearts at Parkhead...

That felt like three well-earned points tonight. What impressed you most about the performance?

We had to work hard for it. That's fair to say as we weren't really fluid tonight as we did not get into our groove in terms of our football. Obviously, I made quite a few changes and that always disrupts things. It is difficult as a lot of guys, like our two full-backs, have not played in quite a while. I've got to make allowances for that. Ultimately the players still showed a really strong mentality and the highlight of our game was the quality of goals as I thought we scored three great goals.

In the first half it felt a little bit more open - do you credit Hearts for coming and having a go also?

Absolutely. We knew they would as they are a good side and we are getting to that period of the season where everybody has something to play for. They came at us and we could have handled it a little bit better, we get caught up in the excitement of the game and just needed to settle down and get control of it.

If there are two players you can trust to break the lines it is Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda would be top of that list. It was a fantastic combination to get Celtic back on terms, wasn't it?

The quality of our goals was great. Kyogo was outstanding tonight and we did him a real disservice as there were so many opportunities for us to play him in and again that is where we have to be a bit smarter in the way we play our football. He never stops running or making those runs and he broke through with perfect timing and it was a great ball. Daizen is always there.

When you made the changes midway through the second half to take control of the game it seemed to work as Aaron Mooy set up a beautiful goal and Tomoki Iwata kept things nice and tidy didn't he?

It is important that the guys coming in stabilised us and getting the goals helped that as we scored two quality goals. That is a bit part of who we are and with three games this week we knew had to call on people and the guys who came on did well.

How pleased are you with Sead Haksabanovic's contribution? It is something that he is threatening every game and tonight he got it spot on...

He was brilliant. He has got that quality. He hasn't had a real extended run in the team for a number of reasons. Every time he has been called upon he has been excellent. He has a great attitude at training and it was great for him to get a reward. He is another player who can give us more - and he will.

Daizen Maeda has taken a knock tonight and Greg Taylor has had to sit this one out are you hopeful that both players will be reintroduced on Saturday again?

Greg should be fine. No problem. I probably could have played him tonight but we just thought we would be a bit cautious here. Daizen's looks like a knock and we will have to assess him as it is a short turnaround.

 

Here’s to 1000 more hopefully

 

Glad to hear him get stuck into the players a wee bit post-match. Would be easy to say everything is fine after that second half performance but we can definitely do better, and good to hear Ange pushing that.

Seemed especially raging we never player in Kyogo more. I noticed that a few times, Hearts were playing a high line and he was making some brilliant runs. Glad Ange is picking up on that.

 

The passing was far too slow and safe tonight, going backwards when it didn’t have to. As you said there was loads of chances to get Kyogo in behind tonight that we never took advantage of. Near enough the whole team were guilty of it tonight.

If Hatate was on the park tonight Kyogo would have genuinely had a field day.

 

Was happy to hear him say clearly the first half was on him.

we got there, however.

we move on. That was a crucial win - now to the weekend

 

Honestly * love this man