Ange Postecoglou

Surely the board will back him to the hilt as they know he's a quality manager and hopefully he signs the LB we have been waiting for since KT left.

 

You just feel more confident listening to him..

 

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is eager to build on the progress made at the club this season and improve areas behind the scenes he feels are necessary to help the Bhoys make the next step.

Ange Postecoglou brought Anton McElhone to the club in September to help with the sports science department, while there was also a dedicated role created to help with player welfare.




The manager hasn’t made massive changes to the staff at Lennoxtown but it sounds like he’ll soon be in a place to once again look at what’s needed and add people to his support team.



He told 67 Hail Hail in a press conference today: “We’re always looking to improve areas. My focus when I got the position at the beginning of the season was that the team needed rebuilding. My focus was on making sure we had a side that was competitive this year.

“After a trophyless season last year, we had to have success this year. It’s just how I felt. My total focus was on getting a team and environment that would give us a chance for success.




Within that, I feel that there are areas we can continually look to improve the club – sports science was one area, player welfare was another area to help players on and off the field. All these things are there to make us a better club.

“In this off-season, there’ll be other areas that, now I have the time and the understanding of how things are working, we can make these improvements. There are still areas we can be better.




The club has been really supportive. I tend to be fairly meticulous and probably in some respects people feel I maybe should move a bit quicker. But I just like to get things right. I haven’t rushed these decisions or brought people in for the sake of it. I’ll bring people in who I believe can add to a really strong group of staff who support the players.

“We’ll do that over the coming months. Michael Nicholson and the board have been really supportive about that. They’re leaving it to me and making sure whatever I’ve asked for I’ve received. I think that’ll continue.”




The club has been really supportive. I tend to be fairly meticulous and probably in some respects people feel I maybe should move a bit quicker. But I just like to get things right. I haven’t rushed these decisions or brought people in for the sake of it. I’ll bring people in who I believe can add to a really strong group of staff who support the players.

“We’ll do that over the coming months. Michael Nicholson and the board have been really supportive about that. They’re leaving it to me and making sure whatever I’ve asked for I’ve received. I think that’ll continue.”




It goes without saying that supporters will be eager to see what’s in the pipeline over the summer. Postecoglou is not a man who likes to stand still, he has big plans for the club.

The heartening thing is that it sounds like he has a bit of autonomy in these areas and that the manager will be making the changes that best suits the vision he has for Celtic moving forward into next season and beyond.

 

He sounds as though he means business and knows exactly where he want's to take our club - nothing like our previous manager

 

Ange Postecoglou shoots down talk of tensions in his Celtic squad - 'it's just another week'
Ange Postecoglou has suggested Celtic are under less pressure as they seek a tiumphant climax to their cinch Premiership campaign than when starting out in it.


Managing tensions among his squad doesn’t come into the Australian’s thinking as five post-split games stand between them and a title success currently appearing firmly in their grasp courtesy of a six-point advantage over rivals Rangers. However, the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to the Ibrox side last weekend has prompted much conjecture over whether, as the finish line approaches, Celtic might start to feel the heat – starting with Sunday’s testing assignment against Ross County in Dingwall. But in pointing to how his first league bid in Scotlandhas unfolded, Postecoglou intimates any focus on potential fretting in the Celtic camp fails to take account of what has allowed them to take matters into their own hands.

“I think I just see things differently,” he said when asked if he had to “eliminate” stresses for his players in the weeks ahead. “If it’s all been about pressure, when you have lost three games out of your first six – and you know that for the next 32 games that you probably can’t lose another one, [or] maybe [just] one more – there’s a * of a lot of pressure there you know. But we haven’t thought that way so we’re not going to change our thinking now. Back then, what was important to us, was that in each game we try to play our football and approach every game in the same manner and keep building on that.


And that’s what we’ll do for the next five games. I know people maybe now just look at it and think ‘they are in a good position here – they might be able to win it’. But we’ve been working under stress and pressure the whole way through. And I think when you do that, it almost becomes normal to you that this is just another week where you have to win a game of football. That’s been the case, as I’ve said, since round six.”
















ANGE Postecoglou has stated that Reo Hatate is ready to help Celtic’s final push for the Scottish title despite the Japanese midfielder revealing the Parkhead club’s punishing schedule has taken a toll on him this week.

Postecoglou also confirmed that Giorgos Giakoumakis, who suffered a hamstring strain in the 7-0 win over St Johnstone a fortnight ago, is available for the cinch Premiership match against Ross County in Dingwall tomorrow.

The return of the Greek striker, who has scored 12 goals since play resumed after the winter break in January, is a major boost to the top flight leaders following their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers last Sunday.




“He (Giakoumakis) is all good,” said Postecoglou. “He is ready to go. The only one that will miss out is Josip Juranovic. At this stage he is at least a couple of weeks. I don’t know the total extent of it, but he will be out for a couple of weeks. Everyone else should be okay for the weekend.”

Celtic’s bid to complete a domestic treble came to an end at Hampden last weekend when they were beaten 2-1 after extra-time – a result that has given their city rivals hope they can come from six points behind in the final five games and retain the Premiership.


Hatate, who has been a regular in the Celtic first team since being signed from Kawasaki Frontale in January, confessed he was feeling “emotional and physical fatigue” in an interview with Sportiva in his native Japan this week.

But Postecoglou said: “He is fine. With him, Daizen (Maeda), Gucci (Yosuke Ideguchi) and Matty (O’Riley), they’ve only come in the last three four months.




Whenever you come into a new environment it, it is always challenging, particularly when you’re coming to a new country, but he’s fine. He’s training well. He’s all good.

“You are kind of guided by them, how they are playing and how they are training. I haven’t felt the need to sort of rein back any of them

 

ANGE Postecoglou’s previous club management experience in Australia and Japan was cited as one of the reasons he would be unable to resurrect Celtic’s fortunes when he was appointed last summer.

Postecoglou had worked with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, Whittlesea Zebras, Melbourne Victory and Yokohama F Marinos.

It was hardly, the critics snorted, ideal preparation for the intense pressure he would be under at Parkhead.

Yet, the Greek-Australian, who has gone an awful long way towards proving his doubters wrong in the past nine months, believes his spell in the dugout at those aforementioned outfits will prove invaluable during what promises to be a nerve-jangling run-in.




Celtic, who take on Ross County in Dingwall in their first post-split fixture tomorrow, are six points clear at the top of the cinch Premiership table with five games remaining and strong favourites to be crowned Scottish champions next month.

Still, the extra-time defeat they suffered to Rangers after extra-time in the Scottish Cup semi-final last Sunday has, even though it was their first domestic defeat in 34 games, given their nearest challengers a glimmer of hope and caused some concern among their supporters.



Postecoglou, though, is no stranger to neck-and-neck title races or leagues being decided in the final game. He won trophies on the last day in both Australia and Japan. He revealed that he likes his teams to peak in the closing stretch because of that and is optimistic his current side can finish with a flourish.

“I’ve tried wherever I’ve been to create programmes and environments where you play your best football at the end of the year,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you start slowly, but whatever your starting point is, you should be finishing strong.

“That’s because of my experience in Australian football, where the winner is decided by a Grand Final at the end of the year after a final series. So there was no point in finishing first (in regular season) then stumbling your way through the finals as you wouldn’t end up champions.


When Yokohama won the J League during my time in Japan, it came down to the very last game that year (they beat second-placed FC Tokyo 3-0 to clinch the title in 2019).

“I think all my teams have played their best football come the end of the season and I think that’s why I’ve had success. That’s how we’ve hopefully designed it here and hopefully that’s what happens.

“It’s not guaranteed obviously but again, when I talk about the mindset and being resilient, we build that through the year. We’re constantly creating those kind of pressurised situations for the players on a daily basis.

“So that when we get to this final part, it’s nothing new for them as they’ve embraced it all along. Hopefully we’ll finish the season strong.

“We want to finish strong. We want to still continue to perform at the best possible level knowing the prize that’s at stake. If you start thinking about things differently or approaching things differently then you run the risk of losing what has got us to this place in the first stage.”


Celtic’s cup loss to Rangers last weekend was certainly painful – it ended the Premier Sports Cup winners’ hopes of completing a fifth treble in six years – but Postecoglou has no concerns about it denting his charges’ self-belief and leading to a catastrophic late collapse.



If anything, he is hoping it will fire up Callum McGregor and his fellow players.

“They were disappointed, but I didn’t feel the need to pick them up,” he said. “Last week didn't really affect what’s happening in the league for us. We’ve got five games to go, we are in a good position and we want to make sure that we continue our performances.

“There’s no doubt we were disappointed last week. We can also use it in a positive way, which I think they will. It’s just further fuel for them to finish the season strong.

“We hadn’t lost in 33 games mate. That’s testament to the group’s resilience along the way and how strong they have been, their mentality of making sure they perform at a consistent level. You don’t get the sort of form we have had over the last six months unless you are really strong mentally.

“Last week doesn’t really change that. It was a narrow loss. It could have gone either way. We are disappointed it didn’t go our way. But it doesn’t really change the fact that we have been in a strong position for a long time and played well for a long time.”


It took a goal from Anthony Ralston in the sixth minute of injury-time to clinch victory on the last occasion that Celtic played County at the Global Energy Stadium back in December and Postecoglou fully expects another difficult encounter against opponents who have finished in the top six for the first time. But he has no fears about his side’s ability to cope.


There’s been a few,” he said. “We had to beat Dundee United at home with 10 men in the last minute as well through Liel Abada, winning at Ibrox, winning at Celtic Park against Rangers when we knew that a win takes us to top spot.

“People have not been dismissive, but I don’t think they realise what this group has been able to achieve on a weekly basis because it only takes two of those results to go the other way and we are in a much different position in the league.

“We’ve been really big on just making sure that we treat every opponent with equal respect – irrespective of whether it’s home or away – and trying to produce a performance we know, at the minimum, gives us a chance to win a game of football.

“We’ve done that. We haven’t had any sort of off days. Even on the days when we haven’t won we haven’t been far off it and we’ve drawn games instead. We’ve just got to continue with that mindset.

“We’ve been working under stress and pressure the whole way through. When you do that, it almost becomes normal to you that this is just another week where you have to win a game of football.”

 

Ange Postecoglou’s dietary habits may cause a little indigestion for the Celtic support. Joking that he eats pressure “up for breakfast” the Greek-Australian has had no need to reach for the Alka-Seltzer in the aftermath of a week in which his side suffered their first domestic defeat in 34 games.

As a result there is a scrutiny in how Celtic respond as they head to Dingwall this afternoon. Rangers’ passage into the semi-final of the Europa League and their William Hill Scottish Cup date at Celtic’s expense has contributed to a narrative that the fizz has gone out of the Parkhead side’s form.

Asked how he dealt with the pressure in a week in which there has been ample noise around the Hampden loss and a cranking up ahead of the final five league games of the season, Postecoglou was expansive in the perverse enjoyment he draws when all is at stake.




I eat it up for breakfast, mate,” he said. “No, seriously I enjoy it. It’s why I love what I do. If you know what the outcome’s going to be, I wouldn’t enjoy what I do. The adrenaline of that fine line between success and failure is what excites me.

“We could have won last week, it could have gone our way. But that’s the beauty of the sport. I don’t see it as pressure. This is the bit I love. That probably tells you about me as a person. But I love going into a game with it all on the line. Potentially you could end up with something fantastic or come out of it bitterly disappointed.”


Celtic’s quest to reclaim the league title has been unaffected, superficially anyway, by the defeat to Rangers. But what is affected is perception of who is the dominant team going into the season’s finale. Postecoglou has repeatedly spoken of how he prepares teams to hit their stride in the final weeks, a philosophy that was notable given that at Hampden Celtic looked leggy for long spells in the game.

Dingwall is not the most inviting scene for a return to action with Malky Mackay’s side capable of making life awkward for Celtic – as they did for 96 minutes back in December.




We’re in a strong position and even if we’d won last week, the challenge this weekend would still be the same. It’s now about us trying to continue our good form in the league against a top opponent away from home. If we perform at the level we have been, we’ll get three points. If we get them, we’ll be a step closer to achieving something special.

“That’s what drives me, wanting to create these moments.




From the outside, maybe people see it as pressure. But for me, I just see it as an opportunity to do something special. For the fans of this football club it’s not just about the team winning or losing.

“It’s a way of life for them so it dictates their whole week. We understand we have a responsibility and there are massive consequences if you’re not successful.

“So there’s perspective to that. But there are a lot of people out there who have to deal with far more difficult things than I do on a weekly basis.

“At the same time, we also carry the responsibility of representing this club. I’m totally invested in that and what this club is about.”

There is little time for projects at Celtic given the immediate need for a winning team. The challenge for any manager at the club is to evolve while still being successful, with Postecoglou’s remit to not only focus on the demand of a critical next month but also for the next transfer window opening. On that front one of his successes this term has been to show unambiguously that he can be trusted with recruitment.

 

Love big Ange to bits, and honestly think hes going to take us to another level. Hes done wonders in his first season with a make shift squad and injury crisis. The only thing that worries me is him talking about his teams hitting top form at the end of their seasons. Hes said it a few times over the season. Not sure what he means by it, but we all want to see Celtic hit top form as early as possible in the season, not near the end of it

 

You have to remember that Ange has most of his management experience in Australia where we have finals to crown our championship. You can be the best all season and have an off day and be knocked out and not remembers as title winners. Obviously you need to play well during the season to get to the finals but you also need to be peaking in terms of performance at the end.


So when he means hitting top form. He will be talking about making sure the performances are good for the most important fixtures at the end of the season and the way the split works in Scotland kinda means you have a de facto finals series with games against the other best sides in the league.

Obviously in an ideal world your performance would be high every week but that’s just not reality. You can maybe come slightly off it during the season and play at 80% against lower sides or when at home etc. (obviously have to peak in the middle of the season for games against rangers or away to hearts or in Europe etc) But at the end of the season during the split you have to be at it.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed the interview with the gaffer there and some really good questions in the second half of it.

 

That's what worries me, hes not used to the pressure of having to win every domestic game at Celtic, instead of just making sure his team makes it into the top six or whatever. But I'm pretty sure the big man knows all about it now. You're right tho, we cant play sexy fitba all the time, 3 points is all that matters

 

Weathered a wee storm but his subs changed it again and we regained pretty much complete control..

 

Does that give you some momentum back?’

‘We never lost it mate.. we’ve been very good for a very long time. We lost s cup semi final in extra time’

Ange rips the journalists to shreds and he’s gave us our team back. Love him

 

Only 7 conceded, impressive

 

Said it already, hands up, called it initially wrong on the guy
Still think Celtic fans correct to question the appointment, vey left field and unknown to us. But it proved a lot of us wrong and proved us to be pretty narrow minded in our scope to football talent.

Guys an unreal talent for s coach.
After this season he deserves the 3-4 year contract. If for no other reason, to cover our * as with Rodgers. He will be poached soon enough. Let's at least get something back when it happens.

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Agreed with all of that

 

Should finally put to bed , how shakey/dodgy our defence is?

Also imagine if the Huns never had A.Pen playing for them