Ange Postecoglou

Appreciated, but I was also being sincere

 

Apologies to the quoted member as I'm sure you would disavow these sentiments now but reading the start of this thread is an absolute odyssey

 

Viera sacked

Here we go again

 

And the Daily Ranger in 3...2...1...

 

Yeah I read a significant part of the thread a while back for a laugh, I can’t remember exactly what gave it away, but it was either the quoted posts were missing or a chain of posts didn’t make sense because it was like they were talking to another poster but the posts weren’t there.

 

Ange ran up and kicked a football between Sakala's teeth.

 

Who had the Glasgow Times at 9:31am....

 

According to the Scottish rags; Ange has been on a shortlist for the following positions....

Chelsea Manager.
Everton Manager.
Leeds Manager.
Japan Manager. (After Qatar)
Liverpool manager (after Klopp).
Replacing Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
Replacing Henry Cavill in The Witcher series.
First Minister of Scotland (after cuntface)
Crystal Palace Manager.

I've never seen the Sevco Mainstream Media THIS DESPERATE to get a guy out the door.

It's as if they think if they put it out there, then it will reach the ears of someone down south, get the ball rolling.

They said he wouldn't last til Christmas. Now it's all they want for Christmas. Santa must inundated with what he thinks are letters from dyslexic Christie Browns, scrawled on * stained bedsheets begging for a football manager to leave a club they don't even support.

 

It’s madness that in 2023 the inept Scottish media still has football fans on strings.

You do realise that by sharing and mocking them linking Ange to every job is just going to ensure it continues?

 

You can see with this press conference ange really can't stand these * mutant hun loving scum media. Some of the questions ffs. I remember ange first few weeks at celtic he had some fans q&a sessions and fans warned him about the media. Think he knows how thick they are and what team most support

 

Noticed the two conferences with Ange and Jota they asked if we’ve had any tactical changes. Ange said yes, Jota said no.

Find * like that interesting. Ange has been tweaking things subtly to suit.

Because there is notable differences between first 6 months last year, after Christmas, start of this year and after the world cup. Not complete changes, but a steady evolution.

 

Everything Ange Postecoglou had to say ahead of Celtic taking on Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership...

I was talking to David Martindale, the Livingston manager, and he was talking about the benefits that may come if you expand the league in terms of developing youngsters and giving other teams an opportunity to benefit through the SPFL. Do you feel that there is a requirement by all clubs to try and develop young players and give youngsters an opportunity for playing at the highest level possible?

Yeah, I think I've said a few times it's a really important part of our football club in general that we have a history of developing our own players. We've currently got at least three or four in the first team squad who have been developed within our own sort of infrastructure including our captain and it's something that's very important and we put a great deal of emphasis on that and we'll continue to do so.

Would expanding the top-flight give more youngsters an opportunity?

Yeah, to be fair, I think David's probably got a lot more time during the week to be considering these things mate. It's not a subject that I'm going to be spending too much time thinking about at this present time. I think if there's a broader discussion at the appropriate time, then yes. We had a three-game week last week and we've got another game tomorrow and beyond that, I haven't had a lot of time to think of other things.


Obviously, you're heading into the international break. So, I just want to speak about some players/ Greg Taylor isn't going away with the Scotland squad and what's the update with him?

Like all the international players we provide all the relevant information to the national teams and it's up to them to decide whether they call the players up or not. From our perspective, Greg's available and he'll play tomorrow and it's the same with Cameron (Carter-Vickers). It's the same with all these international players before they go away, we give the relevant information and then it's up to the nation, their medical team and the manager to then decide whether they call them up or they decide that they leave them this time for rehab purposes.

Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhasi haven't been called up to the Japan squad. How surprised are you by that, given their current form? I know the Japan coaches spoke about the fact that he looks at the level that they're playing at as well. Do you think that's a bit disrespectful as well?

No, I mean, look, both boys are playing really, really well and playing some good football and it's disappointing for them. They haven't been selected, but again, that's the nature of international football and it comes down to the national team manager's decisions and whatever decisions they make and in terms of being disrespectful, it's one person's opinion and I'm not really sure that we should make too many far-reaching conclusions. If you come here next week, you'll probably find that we don't have many players training. The reason for that is there away playing international football. We had five players at the World Cup who all did OK, probably better than OK. We have players Josip Juranovic and Moritz Jenz leave our football club and they're playing regularly in the Bundesliga, which is a top-five league now. Unless, once they go into those clubs, they magically become better footballers, I'd suggest that the selection of individual players comes down to the level of the league. There's been plenty of players who've left us or left this league and gone to the biggest leagues in the world and have performed very well. There are plenty of footballers in the Scottish Premiership who have done extremely well at international level and plenty of players have come from the top five leagues who have struggled in the Premiership. You know, one man's opinion doesn't mean it's wrong, but it doesn't mean that's the case either.

Just on that does it make you wonder what more the guys and in particular Kyogo and how well he's playing have to do almost to break into that squad?

I don't give it too much thought, mate. Again, my role is I'm their club coach. I'm not their national team manager. From my perspective, I just try and help them be the best they can be and make sure that they're in a good space in terms of dealing with whatever challenges they have in their football careers. I don't think there can be any greater disappointment than missing out on selection for a World Cup. If you look at the way the two lads have responded to that they're playing football better than ever. They're both really determined young men and they're going to get to the top of the game one way or another. Whatever challenges they have in front of them, I'm sure they'll overcome them and my role within that is to try and help them do that.

You mentioned the international break and you will be crossing your fingers that the guys will come back fit and healthy and ready to go for the run-in. How beneficial can this be for you and for the guys that are here that there is this mini break?

Look it depends on all these things, you just don't know we're in good form. We're playing some great football scoring goals. We're ticking some pretty big boxes in the way we're going. You don't know how the break will go. We've got a few quite a few away with international teams. There are others who we can put some work into which is good. The others can do with a little bit of a freshening up and like always, we'll use this time to prepare the team for what's left of this season and make sure that whether they're on international duty or they are here and when they get back here, we finish the season really strong. We used the World Cup break really well and that's evident in our form and performances since then and the idea is to use this break to hopefully finish the season really strong.

How is the squad looking for tomorrow's game are there any fresh injury concerns?

There are a couple who will miss out. Probably Aaron Mooy will miss out. He's been a bit sore the last couple of weeks, and he won't be able to make the Hibs game. Tomoki Iwata got a bit of a back strain training yesterday. And couldn't train today. At a push both could have played but with the two weeks break we decided to leave them out tomorrow, but Daizen Maeda is back. He's fine and Carl Starfelt who went off at half- time last week is also fine.

Ten goals in your last two games against Hibernian. They seem like a team you and your players like playing against. What do you expect from them tomorrow?

We enjoy playing every team, mate. We enjoy playing every game and there are no teams we like playing or there are certainly any teams we don't like playing. Every game is an opportunity for us to play our football and make sure that you know we maintain the standards and performances and improve on them. So, it's another challenge for us against Hibs and they're they've been a good run of form lately. Obviously, the last game didn't go well for them but prior to that they've been seven unbeaten and I think they brought in some good young talent during January window, and it will be a good challenge for us. We treat every opponent with the same respect and we go into every game looking to play our football.

Just on Aaron Mooy. I think he was named in Australia's squad. Is he going to go away or is he going to stay behind to recover?

Again, that'll be up to the national team. During FIFA international windows, even if a player is injured the national teams have the right to call them up and assess them themselves. We just provide the information and leave the decision up to the national teams.




You mentioned Greg and Cameron and the information you gave to their countries, are you hopeful now, there's a good chance for them to get over any kind of wee issues they've got as there is a huge run of games coming up after the break isn't there?

I mean, I wouldn't read too much into it, but you know, they'll play tomorrow so that kind of gives you an idea where they're at. Our medical team are on top of all the players. I mean, the core players have some issues here and there at different times and we manage them the best way we can. If we need to give them a break, we give them a break. But I said both will play tomorrow and then after that we'll assess what kind of program, we'll give them for the next two weeks.

Just on the subject of the guys going on the international break, can that be a bit of a double-edged sword for yourself? They're very good in their league duties, but you lose quite a few of them when it comes to the international games coming up?

Look, not really. For the most part, I've always said, I mean I think I see it as a positive. I mean you just have to look at the World Cup we had Aaron Mooy, Daizen Maeda, Alistair Johnson and Cameron carter-Vickers and Josip Juranovic who's gone, but the other four are still here. I think their form since the World Cup has been outstanding and I think it's because they went to the World Cup and did well and sort of came back here with a renewed sense of who they are and their beliefs. So, I think national team football help that or sure and. Unless knock on wood, unless there's an injury, which obviously can happen at any time I'm always encouraged when they go away because I think they come back with even more belief in themselves.

Just on Kyogo and Hatate not getting called up, can you use that as a positive though for Celtic as you are not running the risk of them going away and possibly getting injured and they're going to be here fully fit for yourself?

I don't think about it that way because things can happen here at training. That's not how it works. It's not like they'll be here and we're going to put them in cotton wool and they're not going to do anything. They are going to be training with us. Again, I'd much rather they were in the national team, to be honest. I think the way they're playing both of them if they were away with the Japan national team, I think they'd show what good form they're in and they get a great deal out of that. They've dealt with that disappointment before and not let it affect them. So they're here with us now and we'll use that time as best we can do to make sure that they're ready to go once the league starts.

We spoke to Jota just beforehand, and I was asking if he thinks that the team's playing style has evolved at all since he joined the club. In your eyes, do you think the team style has evolved at all? Do you think there's been a sort of change in how you've played and has there been a contributing factor in how performance levels have stayed as high?

Definitely, I mean we as a coaching group, with the boys in the analysis department, are constantly commenting on the fact that we'll sometimes look at clips of us earlier in the year and we'll see how much our game has evolved. Maybe to naked eye in terms of the overall, it doesn't look that different within the context of the way there are some subtleties there, some of our movements, some of our positional play, some of the areas that kind of dominate have evolved because I think you have to because you know teams try and work out ways to stop us. We need to be constantly thinking about what the next layer in our football is to overcome whatever the opposition may do. With the footage we have there's real evidence that our game has evolved, and it has to, and it needs to keep evolving so that we can keep improving not just our overall team play but also the individual players within that.




You talk a lot about players learning how to play in your team and your methods are very different to maybe other coaches. Looking at last season where this was your first season in Scotland. Is there anything you've learned going into the business end of last season that you can take into the business end of this season?

No, not really. I mean, I think from our perspective everywhere I've gone in terms of building teams, the process is fairly similar respective of the league. The first year is always building the foundation. Then working on some really strong core principles around our football, our environment, our culture, our people, all these kind of things and you use that first year to try and as much as possible to create a framework that then allows you in year two, year three and beyond to then improve and evolve as a team. Nothing really changed with me coming here. Probably last year there was more urgency around the fact that we needed to be successful. It couldn't just be a building year and I was conscious of that when I took the role. There are a few things we kind of tried to fast track and we were able to because the players we bought in really hit the ground running, which allowed us to build some strong foundations but also have success. The process has been the same wherever I've been and I think if you look at my history at club level, even at international level the first year has always been about building some strong foundations and then beyond that, it's just about keeping the team play, and evolving to levels where they can continue to have success.

Talking about the Celtic style of football under you, it's normally about attacking wise how we press to win the ball back right away after we lose possession. In the last couple of games with Hearts, we've seen more playing out from the back, especially from goal kicks and a lot more than perhaps any other team in the league. How do you approach setting up the organised defence for this, especially since it doesn't happen very often in Scotland and is it a part of the coaching you find interesting?

I think what we try and do and it is fair to kind of say with the last four or five weeks apart from the last week when we had the midweek game, we've had some good blocks week blocks of training where we could sort of go through our methodology and see how it would work against different types of opposition. So we're not just preparing for the next game, but also trying to prepare the team for different scenarios and we've worked a * of a lot over the last sort of probably since the World Cup break on pressing oppositions who play out from the back and also us playing out from the back under pressure, even though it doesn't happen in the league. We still work hard in those areas of training just to keep giving players the tools if that's required because even within the context but not all games, but in some games that we're playing at the moment teams may change during the course of a game. To give you an example, obviously, Hearts went down two nil or three nil and they changed their formation. They went to a back four. They've got a bit more aggressive, so we're prepared for that. It's not just about saying, well, this is how they play, and this is what we're going to do about it. We are trying to create as many scenarios as possible of training that the players will see the cues when they're out there and say OK, we've already sort of addressed this even though it wasn't specific to this team, and we know how to counteract it. So there's a constant working of the team's sort of style against all kinds of different opposition set up. So that training for us is about trying to give the tools to the players so that on game day during the game, they can have answers for rather than sort of looking to us when the game is on to see what to do.





Following on from that, if you're coaching these hypotheticals, does that involve a lot more video analysis or more theoretical approach? Is John Kennedy a bit more involved in that rather than the practical side of things?

No, it's probably the other way around because we don't have a lot of sorts of video evidence from our games anyway. I know John and the other coaches do reference other teams that sort of would play in a similar style and try marrying that up to what we're doing, but most of ours are practical. The beauty of our team at the moment is we've twenty-five or twenty-six good-quality players and our training is really competitive. So, if we set up a team to play out from the back, they're pretty good at it because they can all play and the team that has to stop them has to be pretty good at stopping them and vice versa. I keep saying the level of our training is what drives performance so we can set up and John Kennedy drives most of that in terms of the planning of the sessions and the way it goes. A lot of our development comes from the practical rather than the analysis and video stuff because the stuff we review from our domestic games particularly sometimes there isn't a lot in there to take away for some of the principles we want to try and improve.

 

Every time I hear the words scottish mainstream media, I instantly think of the burnistoun sketch at the daily herald, WHERES YER JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!!!!!!!

 

Ange Postecoglou dismisses concerns after Japan snub for Celtic stars

BEING a big fish in a small pond doesn’t mean you are impervious to any waves that may come your way, and this week, Japan’s head coach Hajime Moriyasu caused a fair bit of tumult as he waded into Scottish football’s own little biosphere.


While explaining why he had yet again left red-hot Celtic pair Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi out of his squad for their nation’s forthcoming friendly matches against Uruguay and Colombia, Moriyasu cited the quality of the league his players ply their trade in as a factor in his decision-making process.



Next week, we have multiple players away, and the World Cup is a pretty good reference point, mate.

“I don’t think anyone would say that guys like Aaron (Mooy) and Cameron (Carter-Vickers) and Josip (Juranovic) and Daizen (Maeda) and Alistair (Johnston), guys who were part of our squad, didn’t perform at the highest level.

“So, if you want a reference point, that’s the one you should look at.”

That’s not to say that Postecoglou doesn’t have sympathy for his players or share some of the wider befuddlement in Glasgow around their inability to suitably impress Moriyasu in order to make his squad.


The Celtic manager feels though that both players will react to their latest international setback in a similar way as they did to being left out of Japan’s World Cup squad; with a determination to get even better.

“I don’t feel sorry for them, but you do feel for them,” he said.

“There is no greater disappointment for any footballer than missing a World Cup but if you see how they have reacted to that, it is fair to say that they have used it to take their game to another level, both Reo and Kyogo.

“They will keep pushing on. They are both top quality players with heaps of improvement in them. “They’ll both reach the very top of the game and these things are just little tests along the way. For every footballer there are always different challenges for them, and this is it.


But if you look at the way they have responded to missing out on the World Cup, if anything it motivates them to keep pushing on any being the best they can be.”

Staying on international matters, Postecoglou says that both Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor will be available for today’s game against Hibernian at Celtic Park, despite the USA and Scotland head coaches respectively leaving them out of their squads for next week’s fixtures.

He explained that the decision in both cases, with both players said to be ‘managing issues’, was entirely at their national team manager’s discretion.

“In terms of the national team, it is a pretty straightforward process,” he said.

“With every player we provide medical information and current status from the physical perspective. We do that for all national teams and then it is up to them to navigate that and make a decision on whether they call up the player or not.

“With Greg and Cam, they’ve got some small issues they are managing, but as we can see they are playing. It comes down to the decision by the international manager whether this window is one they want the boys in, or will they be better served by using this window to get them back to full fitness.

“From our perspective, we manage the players so that they are in good physical condition and both Greg and Cam are available for tomorrow, and will play.

We can’t [refuse to release them], FIFA lawand international windows. We have a couple of players injured and national teams are entitled to call them up and have them assessed by their own doctors and I’m fine with that. It’s all good.

“We are in constant contact with international managers, we work together and they try and do what is the best interests of the players.

“Obviously these games, for the most part, are not friendly games and then the decision is up to the national team for best course of action.

 

Rumour is Palace want Kyogo for 20 mill up front. We could have given them Giakoumakis for the same money and kept Kyogo for ourselves.

Ange is staying with us.

 

Looking at this Celtic side under Ange in his second season in charge makes me wonder in all honesty.

It is beyond my imagination how Celtic could have fallen 26 points behind Rangers in the season prior to Ange arriving.
The magnitude of this points margin for this club is beyond belief for that season. Things must have been rock-bottom in terms of confidence and lack of incentive to play on the pitch and the locker room would have been a divisive and bitter place to be in. When I first joined the thread and was reading the comments of the existing posters I could feel their anguish and yes, desperation, for things to improve. Also it was beyond my understanding at that point, how traumatic that season must have been for the fantastic fans of Celtic, given that we see how passionate and true these supporters are, week in , week out. Ange has given them back the chance to have joy again after such misery, and in a short space of time as well.

The love for him is palpable, and for good reason.

Looking at the side now it defies belief they could be anywhere near that situation ever again.

 

Basically, it was a perfect storm of *.

- BR had LITERALLY creeped out the backdoor in the middle of the night a season and a half before. Leaving behind him a fractured squad, an extensive (and expensive) list of duds on our wage bill, like jack * Hendry et al.

- NL was actually able to get a tune out of Rodgers squad, but only for a short period. By the end of the COVID season, the squad was looking VERY lethargic.

- Most importantly, the transfer budget was spent, but was spent very, very poorly for the 10iar push.
This for me was the smoking gun. Jonjoe Kenny, Ajeti, Shane Duffy, Laxalt, and of course * Barkas. The recruitment in hindsight, was beyond terrible.
I said at the time Duffy was a major mistake, and wouldn't be suited to our style, or the Scottish game. Some would also say we didn't even have a * keeper for that season.
We basically ended the season winning only 22 of the 38 games. A shameful statistic for ANY Celtic side domestically.

- Half the team wanted out. Some were promised transfers to the EPL if interest was there, some were desperate to move on from Scotland, and "allegedly" , some didn't want to work with Lennon.

- Sevco, in all fairness, had a great season. Unburdened by their own fans and playing behind closed doors suited them massivley. The were finally able to play preasurre free, and admittedly, were very good, as a team at least.

- Lennon's sacking in February was basically too little, too late.
Lack of succession planning at the club meant no replacement was even close to an appointment, forcing us to go with perennial managerial sidekick John Kennedy. Who frankly.has a head full of * sawdust.
Not only did he mimic Lennon's tactics, but compounded them.
Results actually got WORSE under Kennedy. We dropped a massive 14 POINTS in the last 8 league games.

- by game 10 in the league we were looking wobbly. By game 20 were circling the drain, and by game 30 the club had fallen into a complete shitshow. The whole atmosphere was completely toxic, from the board to the fans.

In closing, Sevco didn't stop 10 in a row. Yea they had a fantastic campaign by their standards, but the board of Celtic are ultimately to blame for firstly appointing Lennon, (in a shower no less), sanctioning tragically bad signings, appointing Kennedy as interim, and ultimately, as the GB warned them the season before " falling asleep at the wheel".

It does go to show how EASILY the game can change.
In the space of a season and a half we went from a juggernaut to a shopping trolley with a busted wheel.

"When you see peace, plan for war" is an old adage the Board obviously didn't take too seriously.

 

Unhappy times.