Ange Postecoglou

Ideguchi got injured before he could show us his qualities, and that was unfortunate. McCarthy was not Ange's signing- it was DD's idea. Unsure about Abildgaard, as well. I believe he's exactly the type of player we need, but Oliver is not Ange's type- you're right. I think Hatate might be a sign that Ange's training and in-game demands wear out players too fast.

 

I actually think the opposite was the problem last night. We didn’t do things quickly enough in my opinion. The press wasn’t great either.

 

It seems Ange prioritises ball speed and technical ability in central midfielders over player speed/size/etc, and if you don't have the ability to play how we want to play, you won't play much (ala McCarthy) Although I suspect that he'd love to sign a player with Matt O'Riley's quality but with also a serious burst of pace or a 6'1 Hatate who can run for 90 minutes straight, those players don't grow on trees in our price range.

We were linked with Souza who seemed to combine several key attributes - size, aggression, can cover ground, good technically - and the reports at the time were that we were extremely keen on signing him. So it's likely that Ange and the recruitment team recognise the need for a player(s) like that, but getting the right one has perhaps proved more challenging.

Having said all that, I agree it is an issue and hope that over the next couple windows it's something we can address. Matches against Leipzig this season and Leverkusen and Bodo last season all highlighted our physical deficiencies to varying degrees.

 

Our press just isn’t good enough full stop. I agree with a previous post about changing our press from a very high press to a mid/high press.

When we press very high in their own box there is more space for their defence to play into midfield or to the attackers it’s easier to play around because we don’t commit everyone to a press we typically have 4/5 players do it.

If we adopted a lower press and allowed their defenders to come out a bit further and then pressed there is less space ahead of them to play with and the game becomes more condensed leading to opportunities to counter attack into space.

We really need to work on our pressing game, heehaw point 4/5 players pressing and the rest of the team aren’t close to their opposing numbers.

 

Nicking a 1-0 win absolutely doesn't get you nowhere. It gets you 3 points for a start. Long term it maintains coefficient better than a 2 - 0 , 3- 0, 3 - 1 loss in which you had chances but couldn't convert.

We are not really in a position to simply write off entire group stage campaigns as gaining experience, certainly not 2 in a row. It greatly endangers future CL participation, which in turn limits the chance of being competitive at any European level.

 

Our press was much better earlier in the season. The type of press has to be decided by the striker. If he goes chasing then the team has to back that up. If the striker can’t for one reason or another, then it’s completely pointless the wingers and midfielders going because that’s when you get played around. We didn’t press as a unit last night though. Schlager was in acres of space almost every time their centre halfs had the ball. Almost everything went through him.

 

I agree with the importance of starting to get results in Europe, however the best way for this squad to achieve that is by doing what they do but better, i.e. as in taking a few of the numerous chances we've created. The system should be tweaked based on analysis of previous matches, but the principles should remain. Despite one measly point in the group, we're not that far away. If we weren't creating chances or were getting done 6-0 it'd be a different story.

 

Edit. Wrong thread fs

 

I worry about his health and lifestyle.

 

Well our Manager will oversee 3 points in the Green And White Bag next CL Game. And we all have a Fantastic TFFT

 

I'm not as despondent as a lot of folk here. I'm really * frustrated, as with the chances we've created in this group we should be sitting on more points, but I agree with Ange that we're not far off being a team who competes at this level. The improvement in a season and a bit has been * insane - we are going at elite teams and giving them proper games.

Yes, we gas and there are areas of improvement, but that's the thing, we are constantly improving. Our side now compared to the one against Bodo is night and day. Ange is learning too - this new 4-4-2 out of possession has us a lot tighter, even though we still gave up a lot of chances.

Things are bright - with a bit of luck we'd all be feeling very differently. We didn't get that luck, but we move forward and keep improving. Maybe next season we won't need luck.

 

It's so easy to get caught up in the emotions of a night like last night. Ange himself always refers to it as passion, and he's right. We all just want success and to see improvements in Europe.

As much as I've spat the dummy a wee bit myself, when the dust settles I try to keep things in perspective and aye, we've made huge strides since he came in and will continue to do so. The big man is a class act and I sincerely hope everything pans out the way he's planning it I.e. the club gradually becoming an established European force over time. He deserves all of that.

Patience and a bit of faith are in order here, hopefully the fan base as a whole can keep that in mind.

 

Actually that's exactly the position we find ourselves in.

We can only worry so much about the coefficient. It is good fortune that the stars aligned to give Ange the automatic group stage qualification, something I will happily see him benefit from if we win this league. Sadly with the state of Scottish football there is no hope that auto qualifying will be ongoing. We can have good European campaigns and almost every other Scottish club appearance in Europe will be dragging the * out of the coefficient.

No sane Celtic manager has "protect the coefficient" on their list of objectives.

Rangers will be having an existential crisis tonight, you can imagine them asking to swap their UCL berth for a Europa League berth next time out. Meanwhile at Celtic Ange is probably already thinking in the back of his mind about what we need to do to iron out our weaknesses in this competition and do more next season.

Ange now. Ange FOREVER. HE SHALL HOLD A EUROPEAN TROPHY ALOFT IN A SEA OF GREEN AND WHITE. THE NAME POSTECOGLOU WILL GO DOWN IN THE PANTHEONS OF CELTIC GREATNESS. HEED MY WORDS FOR I HAVE FORSEEN ALL THIS IN A VISION GIVEN UNTO ME BY NAKAMURA THE WISE

 

OK , you've just made a poor attempt at condescension and deflection, tub-thumped and basically waffled some nonsense but I'll attenpt to address it anyway.

It is being dressed up. We have 1 point from 4 games and we keep seeing phrases like "going toe to toe", "matched real Madrid for 60 mins", " if we took our chances" etc, this is dressing. The realities are, the team is dead on its feet after 55/60 minutes and its probably not a coincidence that 7 of the 9 goals we have conceded have come in the last 35 minutes of games, and remember last week? We did actually take a chance and equalised, what happened after that? We completely folded, so no guarantee thst when we take chances the games will suddenly swing in our favour.

Don't know why you felt the need to bring up Strachan and lennon but ok, "yeah", they did get some memorable results, or as others might refer to it, took us through some difficult qualifiers and qualified from group stages. No matter how well ange gets us playing, and if he does eventually master the intricacies of European football, we're never going to push on in the knockouts playing open football, we simply don't have the budget to afford the players that could do that.

I don't believe anyone that is critical of how this latest campaign has transpired is advocating a more defensive approach, just the need to be more savvy in our game plan. After taking the lead or equalising away from home its OK to invite the opposition into you and try to exploit them on the break. It's ok to have organisation, preserve energy levels for 90 minutes and not just press for 60 like headless chickens, it's ok to have a balance that doesn't just involve going * for leather until everyone's knackered.

And the flip side of the "project mentality" is we are now sitting on a 3rd failed euro campaign on the bounce, this is going to affect our standing and ability to qualify for group stages in the future, a 4th could be disastrous. Failure to gather coefficient will see us face increasingly harder qualification and without semi regular access to CL group stage money we could be even less competitive at any European level.

 

And tweaking the system is all most of us would say needs done but tweaking it isn't just doing what we do but try do it better. Find a balance. There's no need to be as frantic as we are. When you find yourself 1-0 up away from home exploit it. The impetus is then on the opposition, use that. There's also no guarantee that when we take chances it will all fall into place. We took a chance last week then proceeded to fold like yesterday's paper.

The harsh reality is we don't have the players to play how we are, it has been proven, and ghat is now worse with CM out . We have decent players that are capable of good football and the principles can, and should, remain intact. we just need better organisation and in game intelligence to pull if off.

Even the best sides box clever in euro competition. RM and RB both played us like like a cheap fiddle and ange was handed footballing lessons by Ancelotti and Rose. There's no shame in that, I only hope he can really learn from those lessons.

 

More frustration than disappointment for me. We where happy to get straight into the groups but werent expecting much to happen. Looking at the games we could of maybe got 2nd or 3rd with the chances but it is what it is.
Hopefully with the money generated we can up a level in players coming in for next yrs group.
Expected europa league but you still never know.

 

The most frustrating thing is that there's a core of a really good team here, and they would probably be competing strongly for second place in that Group had the games been managed better.

 

Why did you put "yeah" in quotes and I will shrug off your more defamatory comments because bickering belongs on Rangers forums.

Aside from your quotation marks you do make some valid points. However Lenny's last season is irrelevant in this. Ange's gambit really does need some of those chances to be put away. If we go 1 or 2 up then it changes the complexion and it's the opposition who are chasing the game. While you're points are valid I still feel like Project Angeball needs our strikers to have their shooting boots on before anything else.