Ange Postecoglou

Whit a guy...happy Crimbo Big Ange

 

Big Ange must read TC, he said if Hatate failed at RB he would have said it was Kennedy's idea

 

You’d be £1 less off then

 

Set a place at the Christmas dinner table for the big man, head of the table. Hahahahhaa

 

Phew!

 

I love how much we love this guy

 

'I've always sensed it': Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou assesses squad's mindset ahead of facing Hibs and Rangers
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou does not believe complacency will set into his team despite a nine-point lead at the top of the cinch Premiership and an unbeaten domestic run throughout this season.



Celtic have won 17 of their past 18 matches in Scotland and posted a convincing 4-1 win over St Johnstone on Christmas Eve, but Postecoglou feels his team have even more to offer and that his players are striving to improve. They take on Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday before travelling across Glasgow to face arch-rivals Rangers on January 2.

“I’ve never sensed with this group that they’ll ever get complacent or comfortable, or have any resistance to wanting to improve,” said Postecoglou. “Again, it’s easier said than done because our results are so good and we’re sitting top of the ladder. It’d be easy for the guys to get comfortable in that moment, but I’ve always sensed they want and demand more. My role and the coaches’ role is to give them that feedback when it’s required and to keep pushing them.




“I firmly believe we can get better and stronger as a team. If I just had results as the reference point, it’d be very hard for me to give them that feedback. The players know I don’t base it on results, I base it on performances. They demand it of me to make sure I’m constantly pushing them.”







Postecoglou is expected to bolster his squad further in the coming days, with Japanese defender Tomoki Iwata reported to be undergoing a medicalafter Celtic agreed a loan deal with option to buy with his club Yokohama F Marinos.

 

Ange even helping deliver the Scottish Budget, what a guy.

 

Celtic kicked off 2022 with a 2-0 home win over Hibernian, and they ended the year with another victory over the same opposition, this time an emphatic 4-0 victory at Easter Road.

It ended an impressive calendar year for the Hoops, who played 37 Premiership games in 2022, winning 33 of them, drawing three and losing just one.

It’s a stunning record for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who secured the league title last season and go into the new year nine points clear at the top of the table.

The Celtic manager was understandably delighted with the performance and result in the Scottish capital as his side continued their winning return to action after the recent break for the World Cup.

Speaking to Celtic TV after the game, he said: “It was credit to the lads because they were brilliant tonight. We had a feeling that Hibs would come at us early on, which they did in the first 10 minutes, and it was pretty frenetic.

“Their crowd was up for it, our crowd was obviously up for it, but I thought we held out very well and then once we got a grip in the game, we were outstanding.

'Our goals were outstanding, our movement and general work-rate was exactly what it should have been.'

“It was underpinned by a really strong work-rate. Whenever we didn’t have the ball, we made it really difficult for them, we hunted in packs and got the ball back quickly, which we needed to do and I thought our play in the front third was excellent again.

“It was really aggressive running, aggressive passing into the right areas. We scored four but we had more chances to score a few more.”




The goals at Easter Road came from Kyogo – his 16th of the season – Daizen Maeda with a stunning strike and a double for Aaron Mooy, his first goals for Celtic.

“Aaron’s been knocking on the door in terms of getting a goal because he’s been getting into some good areas and I know he’s been desperate to get one,” said Ange Postecoglou.

'I think the World Cup was a really positive one for us. The boys who’ve come back from that have come back with a real positive experience and with Aaron, it’s just been a matter of getting him fit.'

“He knew that because he hadn’t played a lot of football for six months but you can see now that he’s strong, his running capacity – I’ve always known he’s got a great engine in him – and the quality’s there as well.”

Daizen Maeda scored his first goal for Celtic in that opening game of 2022, just four minutes into his debut against Hibernian at Celtic Park.

His strike at Easter Road, coming just 60 seconds after he hit the bar with a close-range header, was a stunning effort from 20 yards out that left Hibs goalkeeper, David Marshall, with no chance.

“It has to be a goal of the season contender,” said the Hoops boss. “Obviously I coached Daizen in Japan as well and he’s such a strong character and such a selfless player for the team.

“The amount of work he puts in, in terms of pressuring oppositions – sometimes he gets no reward, or no recognition for, but he never stops.

“He was a bit unlucky with the header but then he set up the first goal really well and his goal was magnificent and that’s credit to him.

“So 2022 has been a great year for us and, again, that’s credit to the lads. We’ve lost one game domestically (in the league) out of 37, which shouldn’t be taken for granted.

“For the boys, home and away, to be consistently performing at such a high level is credit to them.

“And I think what you’re seeing is that we’re getting stronger. We finished 2022 stronger than we started and our goal and aim and ambition is to start 2023 stronger and finish even stronger than that.”

 

I think he's managed the side masterfully since that Martin Teale fella took over for them. He's maintained the 9 point gap proactively, by calling out poor performance despite winning games so that no complacency can creep in. If we'd dropped points they would have been encouraged, but instead now there's even more pressure on them to have to take all 3 points.

 

Agreed. People underestimate how tough it is for a manager to keep their team playing consistently well, consistently winning matches. Ange is a top, top manager clearly

 

Ange Postecoglou has sent out a warning that should send a shiver down the spines of the rest of Scottish football by insisting his Celticteam is only just getting started.

The champions head to Ibrox on Monday looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership to a whopping 12 points but Postecoglou is adamant that Celtic will keep striving to improve irrespective of the outcome of the clash with Rangers.




I still think there is improvement in this team. A lot of these guys are at an age where their best football is ahead of them. My role and the coaches and everyone around them is to give them that platform to continually improve.

“We worked hard during the break. I think we’ve come back stronger than we finished. We’ve had four games and I think in all four we’ve got stronger in each game.

“From our perspective it’s all about the main target and the main aim which is to keep pushing how good we can be on a daily basis, pushing the guys and making sure they are well prepared for what’s ahead. And they are buying into that.


There is no sense of them getting comfortable at any stage. They are consistently pushing themselves and each other to be the best they can be.




Meanwhile, Celtic have been linked with a move for South Korean midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu from Busan IPark. J-League star Tomoki Iwata is already set to join Postecoglou’s squad in January and now the South Korean Under-23 international stage is on the radar too.

Hyeok-kyu stands at 6ft 3 and is said to offer an ‘impressive physique’ while being credited with high-tempo play, something Postecoglou may look to slot into his system in Glasgow