Ange Postecoglou

I don't think they'll go for him but I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried.

 

Why you worried? No chance he's going to Chelsea.

 

Chill mate. He loves it here.

 

As long as he’s saving a few for the mirror as well. Players weren’t great, but I felt some of his in-game decisions were a bit senseless. I also feel he should know by now that Haksa isn’t a starter in a system as intense as ours (at least for now).

 

So called 'elite' english clubs like Chelsea are far too ignorant to employ a manager from the Scottish Premier League. If Ange does something impressive in Europe you might get a middle of the road EPL club such as Everton or Aston Villa coming in for him (i dont care how these clubs are currently doing im mentioning them because in general they normally hover around mid table without getting relegated or ever threating to put in a challenge for the title) thats about as good an offer that Ange could expect from England while being manager of Celtic.

 

When Joe Hart isn't posting a post-match encouragement story on insta not long after a game you just know Ange was in there booting some balls...

 

With the quality we have got, there’s no excuses for our players. That draw was on the players performance, we had enough to beat them and we didn’t.

 

Failure is a group phenomenon; that includes the manager.

 

Manager gives them the tools to do the job, he can’t physically kick or head the ball in for them. We had more than enough opportunities to win the game even when the players were poor. Agree that Taylor shouldn’t have been the one back marking Van Veen, but by * did Taylor look like a schoolboy against a man, he was awful for a professional footballer.

 

Can't see him going to dysfunctional Chelsea. He loves where he is and will feel comparatively secure (for a football coach with a family to support).

The connection to high profile EPL clubs is good for his profile but if and when he goes to the EPL it'll be to a club whose football vision matches his own. Not too many clubs fit that bill and almost none will have the patience to let him build a team and develop Angeball.

Chelsea would be just about the worst possible club for him to join.

 

There's no chance of the Chelsea link

 

Ange Postecoglou reveals gripe with Celtic post-split fixtures - 'it is what it is'
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou had expressed frustration with the fixture scheduling after his side were handed two consecutive away matches after the Premiership split.



Celtic can clinch their second consecutive title with a win at Hearts in their first post-split fixture on Sunday, May 7, but should they fail to do so they could secure it against Rangers at Ibroxthe following weekend.

But with only a small number of away fans expected at Tynecastle – and none permitted to attend the Old Firm showdown in a repeat of the Rangers fan lock-out at Celtic Park last month – Postecoglou admitted he would have preferred one of the first two dates to have been allocated for a home fixture.

Instead, Celtic won’t return to home soil until facing St Mirren on May 20, by which time the championship may have already been decided.



It's always a bit of a challenge, I guess, for those doing it," he told Celtic TV. "I would have liked to have had at least one home game in those first two just because it means that again our supporters won't see us for three weeks. So it would have been nice but ultimately it is what it is.

"We've just got to deal with what's before us and in terms of the league that's going to Hearts away who have got a new manager in Steven (Naismith) in and they got a great result last week. It's always a challenge at Tynecastle anyway so it'll be a good place to go and win it because we're going to have to earn it to do it.”

 

What a man!!! How lucky we are to have this man as our manager. The day he leaves (hopefully not for a long time) will be a dark day indeed.

Just out of interest. What was the deal with Howe in the end? The rumours at the start was that he'd bottled the job, but seen an interview with him not so long back with him suggesting otherwise and that he was quite disappointed in the end it didn't happen, due to his backroom staff or something.

What really went off?

Obviously whatever it was I'm eternally grateful for as ultimately we got Ange.

 

Thank * Howe * it and we ended up with the big sexy man.

 

Howe didn't bottle it, he wanted to come. But he couldn't convince the backroom staff he wanted to come up. Howe didn't think he could make it work without them.

 

Everything Ange Postecoglou had to say ahead of Celtic's Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers...

How much are you looking forward to going back to Hampden for this one?

Look, obviously I have had a few trips now and they've all been memorable occasions. I guess even when you're not successful, it's still memorable for one reason or another. It's a cup semi-final and we're getting used to that. This is the point of the year where things get decided, so the first thing is that we're part of it, which is the main thing, and now it's up to us to get to the next stage.

It's a 50/50 split of fans on Sunday as well, how important is that? Do the fans create a great atmosphere and make it memorable for the right reasons as well?

Yeah, I think they do. You know we certainly felt that at the League Cup final and we are looking for some of the same. It's going to be a great colour and a great atmosphere. I'm sure both sets of fans are looking forward to it and I guess we have just got to do our bit and make sure that we put on a good football match and that, as you say, it is memorable for the right reasons.

What is your team news in terms of the weekend?

Yeah, from last week, everyone got through unscathed and (Liel) Abada, Jota and Reo (Hatate) have trained all week, so they're available. (James) Forrest is probably a week or so away.

Celtic are obviously on a great run against Rangers and are five unbeaten. Do you expect them to try and change anything in their approach, either tactically or in terms of team selection, or do these teams know each other so well at this stage that it's quite hard to spring any surprises?

Look, I think you know every contest is different. You know there's a different sort of context around it. Whether it's league, home or away, whether it's a cup final or a cup semi-final. I think they're all sort of separate entities in their own right. From our perspective, we're expecting them to be to be strong, that's how we go into every game. We expect the opposition to be at their best. They've got some very good individuals that could cause problems and they've been a very consistent team as well in terms of results. Like every other game, we go in there and respect the opponent, but ultimately, it's up to us to play our football and we know when we've done that this year and last year, we are hard to stop.

With the league games having very little visiting fans. How will that 50/50 split kind of change the dynamic at all compared to the matches that have been at Celtic Park and Ibrox this year?

I think it just changes the atmosphere of it. There's probably more consistent noise because irrespective of how the games going, one set of fans will probably be happy with it. It's a bit weird I guess at our place anyway when you know when Rangers scored there was silence. I don't think you'll get put it this way many quiet moments of reflection, come semi-final day which is great as that's what we all want to be part of. I think it's what this game has become synonymous for a fantastic atmosphere and great colour and like I said, hopefully both teams can live up to it.





For you personally you've been involved in so many huge games in your career, but do you still get a wee extra buzz in the lead-up to such a huge occasion like these?

I look forward to it because it will become memorable for one reason or another. If you don't enjoy this part of it or I guess the key thing is that you want to be involved. The kind of alternative to that is to be sitting at home and watching it on telly and that's never a nice experience. To be involved, you always appreciate it and the effort that goes into it. I'm looking forward to it and to how the team plays and how we play to the occasion and like I said, hopefully it's a memorable one for us for all the right reasons.





You pick your starting 11 based on your game plan and what you're hoping you want the team to do. How much does personality come into it for a game like this that's quite chaotic? Are you quite specific about what players you pick that you feel will handle the occasion correctly?

To a certain extent, I think this group of players now has kind of been through these kinds of scenarios fairly often. I don't think there's ever been a moment I've thought, well, some players have been overruled. I mean we've given debuts to guys in these kinds of games last year and this year. Guys like even Alistair Johnson this year. I think part of recruiting players and bringing players in is that we kind of hope they have that sort of character and personality that they can cope with it. It's relentless at this club because it happens every week. I know that obviously with the big games people sort of put extra sort of emphasis on them, but the expectation to perform is there every week for us and even the slightest blip like last week, the players know that they can't slip below those standards. I think what they sort of go through on a weekly basis and daily basis prepares them for games like this. There'd be no one I'd put out there on Sunday who I'd be worried about not being able to handle the occasion.

If I can go back to the semi-final last year, is that a result that still rankles with you at all, or because you've had a lot of success before that and since then as well is it one you've been able to put to bed?

You never put those ones to bed mate, unfortunately. It would be nice to think that's how it works. I think most people will tell you differently. You know, players and managers will tell you that the ones where you aren't successful tend to stick in the memory longer than sometimes the ones where you are successful. The factor was that on the day I still thought we performed well and it was a really tight game. We lost in extra time. You know where we were as a team at that point in time, we were sort of bonded together strongly as a group and you need to go through these experiences both good and bad for growth. I think we use that as a sort of growing experience for ourselves to say, well, okay we weren't successful on the day, not for the want of trying as we faced a really good opponent at the time as Rangers were on their way to a European final and were a really strong team. We lost in extra time, but you use that as an opportunity to develop and learn but also use it as a source of inspiration moving forward to try and make sure that it doesn't happen again.






How big a boost is it to have all three of these players back?

It's hugely beneficial for us as a group. I mean, training this week has gone up because we have three more quality players who have joined in training and all three boys have missed a bit recently. They are sort of itching to get involved as well. So yeah, I think it certainly helps, as you said, not just with the starting 11, but the ability to then go to the bench and impact the game. They have training tomorrow and they need to get through that. But they had a strong week of training and we are pleased that they're available.

Can the players learn from last week's disappointment?

Yeah, look, it is like you said, what's at stake and it's it's very hard to eliminate that because human emotions inevitably will take over in those kinds of situations, but we've tried to sort of emphasise is that we need to stay clear-headed and focused on what's important to us and what's important to us is to make sure that we're controlling the game the way we want to and play the game on our terms and you can only do that if you can sort of make sure that you're not influenced by other factors. But at the same time, there's going be passion, there's gonna be anxiety, there's going to be nervousness in both camps during the game. And it's about trying to minimise the impact that has on the performance.

Callum McGregor was speaking there saying that he feels that the unbeaten run that Celtic are on against Rangers gives the players a bit of confidence. Do you feel like that as a manager going into this one?

Yeah, like I said before, I just treat these things as just separate entities. I just think if you fall into the trap of just thinking that there's some sort of advantage you have because of previous results that's where you can maybe lose clear clarity around what's important. Every game is different, particularly talking about cup games, semi-finals and everything is at stake on that day. You know the reward. I just don't think previous form or where that was last week or in other games really comes into it. I mean you don't want to be sort of going to these games not having won for a while, for sure. Whether that's against the direct opponent or in previous weeks. I think from our perspective we've been in good form for a long time and the performances have been consistent for a long time and you know we just want to make sure that we continue that.



Do you feel like the players have an extra fire underneath them for this fixture?

I don't think we need that sort of motivation. I mean it's like I said after the game, it's a good learning opportunity for us. You are not going to be winning every game, that doesn't exist anywhere in the world where you win every game of football. There is always going to be times where the result doesn't come, but we've been really good at sort of trying to improve and trying to get better even while winning games of football, which is not easy. But when a moment like last week comes where things don't go our way and we see things that we could have done better, we just use that as an opportunity to learn, but you don't need any extra motivation, or you shouldn't wait for something to hurt you to be thinking I'm going be at my best. You should be your best all the time.

It's been a long season and I think coming into every one of these derby matches so far there's always been something on the go, whether it's injuries, transfers, fixture congestion, internationals, Brexit etc. Coming into this match is this maybe one of the better weeks you've had of preparation coming into a match with no distractions or external influence?

It is to a certain extent I think. We try and sort of prepare the same every week. I think once you allow things like that to sort of disrupt what you do on a daily basis, then again there's no such thing as a perfect week in anything you do. We strive to be the best we can be in all our approaches, but there's always going to be something along the way that is going to take your mind maybe off what's important and the key to that is if you stay consistent then whether it's been a good week of preparation or not. Ultimately, what we know is we have got to be ready on Sunday. That's it. No excuses. No reasons why we shouldn't be. And you know that's been our mindset for every game we've played this year.

Is this a game where it's about getting the best team available or the best team for the fixture?

Look, again, I take a sort of consistent approach in that you know the team I put out there that's going to start is the team I think gives us the best chance of of you know performing at the levels where we want to. With the full knowledge that we can change that when we have the quality of players we do that that don't start. So you know, with all these things, it's again what I've really tried to be with the lads is really consistent every week. It's not about performances in previous weeks it's not just about training performances. I always said with the knowledge that we can change that if required so. You know, I guess to put it the best way is I'm going to pick the team that I think gives us the best chance of success.