Ange Postecoglou

See tbf for all the heat Maeda can get, Livingston was probably the game for him.

 

It’s not Christmas yet….30000000/1 for him to be gone in next 2 days

 

I reckon Ange was probably looking at starting GG tomorrow but after his post on Insta he's probably * it for himself

 

Everything that Celtic boss Ange Postecoglousaid to the media ahead of the St Johnstonematch...

It is a busy schedule and you made one change against Livingston do you expect to make a few more over the next few games?

Yeah, I think that's a fair assumption based on how busy the schedule is but also based on performances too. If guys are performing at the levels we know they can there are some pretty good players there who are not getting game time and training hard and you have to reward that at some point. That's why we have a big squad and coupled with the fact we do have a busy schedule we will make some changes for the St Johnstone game. It will be another good and tough game for us. Callum (Davidson) is an excellent coach and he has got them well-organised and well-drilled. Every time we play them it is a challenge and I am sure it will be on Saturday.

How important is it to finish off with a victory on Saturday before Christmas?


I think in the context of everything, every game is important. For us, it is about making sure constantly evolving, progressing and improving as a team. We can't stand still, we can't just rely on the fact that we had some decent results and think that it is just going to keep rolling on. You need to be at it in every game and on top of your game and that's what has got us to the position that we are today. We haven't done that by looking too far ahead or worrying about what has happened before. It is about us dealing with what's in front of us and that's what we need to keep doing.




What will be the biggest challenge now from the last time you faced St Johnstone?

The thing about St Johnstone is that they are a little bit like Livingston and they do not really change their approach whether they are playing us or any other side. I think there is consistency in their approach which means that their players understand their roles really well. We need to be really disciplined in our approach and play our football to make sure that we can counteract that and gain the dominance we need to win the game. We will be under no illusions it will be a tough one.

Is it harder to reach the performance levels you are looking for when it is such a packed schedule or do you still expect that the players will hit those heights?

I don't think so, it doesn't make it as simple for sure but I still think within the context of the Livingston game up until the box in the first half we were very, very good. You can't be very, very good for 75 per cent of the game. You have got to be very, very good for 100 per cent of the game if you want good performances. I don't think the Livingston performance was down to fatigue because I didn't change the team and it wasn't anything to do with cohesion. We just lacked discipline and structure and sometimes I don't think it's good to get a reminder because we should know that anyway whether I think it's good or not football always reminds you if you get away from the principles of your play and we got a little reminder against Livingston.

 

Shame there was no big pre-match presser today and instead just used the comments from Wednesday night's post-match stuff. Then again, Postecoglou is probably relieved to get away from the exact same questions for a change.

 

Celtic to make changes as Ange Postecoglou speaks on performance levels
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has done much to drive standards up during his year-and-a-half at the club’s tiller and he is making no apologies in continuing to strive for the best performance his team can give him, game after game






Postecoglou was far from impressed by what his players served up at both ends of the pitch in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Livingston. The result may have maintained their nine-point lead at the cinch Premiership’s summit but the Australian coach labelled parts of Celtic’s display “unacceptable” and lamented a lack of ruthlessness at both ends of the pitch. Admitting to be frustrated at such failings, he can expect a reaction when St Johnstone, in fifth place and on a good run of form themselves, come to Glasgow for a 12.30pm kick-off on Christmas Eve.

“What’s important for me is I want us to play well,” said Postecoglou. “My mood’s kinda dictated by how we play, our performance. As much as I love winning, and hate losing and those things you get measured by I’d rather we had put on a better performance against Livingston. Within that context we have been very good for a long time. We just have to make sure we don’t just start believing things will happen as a consequence of us going out there and sort of playing the style of football we want. That has to be backed up by some discipline, and resilience around our football.




“I believe we need to hit certain levels of performance and play the game a certain way. I say that because that is where I think is the road to success. If you just focus on the winning, you are going to miss opportunities like midweek to learn, and evolve. You know I could have walked away from Livingston and say, ‘we’ve won against a difficult opponent’, but that would ignore the areas we could improve. I think the players are well aware of that and they’ll be disappointed we didn’t turn up as we needed to.”




Postecoglou operates wholly within an honesty-is-the-best-policy approach when it comes to appraising his players. He has not been short of plaudits for the majority of his team given the success they have had under him, but he knows in the value of calling them out when the level dips below a certain threshold.

“I try and stay as even-tempered as I can in terms of analysing what I see and what is important to us,” said Postecoglou. “And the players relate to that and become accustomed to that so when we do our analysis we do it in the absence of the scoreboard and what it shows up there. We just look purely at the football we play and the kind of team we want to be. I think the players would probably be disappointed if I had walked in to the dressing room after the Livingston game and ignored that. There were times on Wednesday when we didn’t stick to our principles and weren’t disciplined. That’s what they expect of me and that is what I expect of myself.”




One of the areas of the Livingston game that vexed Postecoglou so much was the lack of bodies in the penalty box to take advantage of chances created. “It was really clear for me in midweek that balls were going in the areas and there was no-one there,” he said. “When you look back at the vision, players who should have been there chose not to be there. It was a decision. And when that happens I need to go back and question why, why people aren’t getting in those areas. In a game of football the hardest thing to do is to score goals. We know that, and we’ve been pretty good at that, particularly against teams sitting pretty deep. We have certain ways we try and unlock teams. It’s not easy to do and it’s a big process to get to that point. But what you need at the end of it is people making sure we are fulfilling their roles so we can take advantage of the hard work that precedes it.”

Celtic are likely to make changes to their starting XI against St Johnstone, although part of that will be down to conditioning as well as judgement on performance. “Yeah, we will change things,” added Postecoglou. “Obviously, because of the quick turnaround with another game on the 28th and some of it because of the performance. We do have a strong squad. We don’t have a lot on injuries at the moment – knock on wood, which is great – and we have players, good players, working hard in training that deserve an opportunity and they’ll get one."

 

At those odds, gotta be worth a pound.

 

Merry Christmas big man

 

Made the right changes and got the reaction he wanted today.

Hope the big man has a cracking Christmas.

 

Players attacking the right areas today. Whatever he said to them after Livi they took on board.

 

That's class. Gave them his tie aswell

 

Everything Ange Postecoglou had to say to club television in the immediate aftermath of Celtic's 4-1 SPFL Premiership win against St Johnstone at Parkhead...

What did you make of the performance?

Yeah, really pleased. Firstly, glad we're sending our supporters home happy to enjoy Christmas Day tomorrow with their families, hopefully everyone has a happy and safe one. But yeah really, really pleased with the lads. I thought were really good today. From the start controlled the game, we looked dangerous all the time. We scored four but could have had a few more with a bit of luck. Credit to the boys I thought it was a good performance.

You added pace in the wide areas and were rewarded with Daizen Maeda involved in both of those opening goals...

Yeah, with Jimmy [James Forrest] and Daizen coming in and Aaron [Mooy]... I think it was important to freshen it up a little bit because it is such a quick turnaround. Coming off a long break, having three games within a short space of time was always going to test us. I guess the luxury for me is that I have quality players that I can bring in. I thought it was important we used them today and I thought they all really contributed. well.


The one problem you had pre-match was right-back - but it was no problem at all, it's right-back and two goals [for Reo Hatate]?

Yeah, he's set a pretty high bar for the other full-backs. He's probably going to tell them how easy it is to play there. It was a credit to Reo as well, he was really disciplined. As I said, I think I had to be creative with it but the way we play we still have the ball whatever sort of defensive frailties it may have had I still felt he was disciplined enough to do the job for us and also give us something going forward. I think he did that. He scored two goals when his general play was really good and composed. Again, credit to him.

One fan in particular will be going home warm this winter with the Ange Postecoglou jumper, a generous gift on Christmas Eve...

Yeah, there was this little girl with a sign- I'm not sure but I think it was for one of the players but she gets my jumper and hopefully it gives her a bit of buzz. I gave my tie away as well to a lad. It's Christmas time but I wasn't prepared to give anything else away.