Ange Postecoglou

Really enjoy listening to him..

He's class..

I saw a video of him arguing and flustered with the Aussie media and thought they'd eat him up here. How wrong could I be..

 

Pimp slaps the media

 

Just seen him in the west end

 

Song?

How much would he go for?

 

If we drop points this weekend then clearly Tennents bar is cursed

 

Fantastic fullback and captain of the Thailand national team.

 

ANGE POSTECOGLOU has defended Celtic striker Kyogo from accusations of play-acting, hitting back at ‘courageous, couch-sitting observers’ for their criticism of his player.

The likes of former English Premier League referee Keith Hackett and former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson have weighed in on Kyogo’s alleged antics after footage emerged of the forward going to ground under slight contact from John Souttar in Celtic’s recent win over Hearts.

There was also criticism of the Japan international when he won a last minute penalty against Livingston at Celtic Park by going down after Ayo Obileye had slapped him on the back of the head.

But Postecoglou said that there is an agenda-driven narrative being formed around his striker when he was asked about such comments.

“How do I answer this question now?,” said Postecoglou.

“It always amuses me when I hear these big, brave warriors sitting on the sidelines judging guys like Kyogo - who’s literally built like a jockey playing against guys who are six foot three - questioning his bravery or his courage in playing the game.

“Look, I haven’t followed that narrative and it’s not something I would be interested in having meaningful discussion [about] because it virtually is centred around ignorance and probably having an agenda. So I’m not going to go down that track.

“What I will say is I would be very surprised if any people who love football, irrespective of who they support, don’t think Kyogo is great for this competition. He is certainly great for our football club; our supporters love him, which is the most important thing, even for the competition.

“He’s exciting to watch. I thought he was outstanding at the weekend, even if he didn’t score. He’s trying to improve every day.

“He’s a great guy to have around, he’s an absolute gentleman and beyond that I’m not brave enough to take on all these others big courageous, couch-sitting, observers of the game, mate.”

Postecoglou says that Kyogo is fully aware that he will come in for physical attention from defenders, but that he relishes such a challenge.

“I’m sure the opposition will try to stop him,” he said.

“But I’d like to think they’re doing that in legal ways. Kyogo doesn’t expect to go out there and not get marked or not get attention, physical or otherwise. So that’s no issue. I’m sure he’s had that already, mate.

“I don’t think people have been ignoring him since day one. I mean, you can’t ignore him because the first game he played in Europe he scored a goal.

“But that’s not an issue. This is not an on-field issue. This is an issue brought about by people who aren’t actually out there.

“So for me it’s a non-issue.”

Meanwhile, Postecoglou was pleased to see Dundee United midfielder Calum Butcher being charged by the Scottish Football Association for his wild tackle on Celtic’s David Turnbull in Sunday’s match at Tannadice.

Butcher was shown a yellow card for the offence at the time by referee Don Robertson, but he will now face a fast-track tribunal hearing today after being cited by SFA compliance officer Andrew Phillips.

“I think it’s been addressed, which is the right thing to do,” he said. “I think it’s a simple clear-cut case.

“My view on these things has always been - and you guys will know this - that I don’t go in after games and highlight things.

“Things that need to get addressed are addressed, and this is being addressed.

“The authorities will see with it as they see fit.”

Postecoglou, meanwhile, conceded defeat in Jota’s race to be fit to face Hibs at Hampden a week on Sunday.

He has an outside chance of making the Old Firm clash on January 2 as the manager said: “He won’t be right for the cup final. We’ll just have to see how he recovers from it.”











JUST how important tonight’s Europa League curtain call against Real Betis is for Celtic is debatable, certainly from the point of view of their aims for the season, which no longer include any hope of progress in this competition.

And for all that manager Ange Postecoglou has dismissed any talk of a dead rubber, he will certainly be taking advantage of the lowered stakes to rest some of his key men against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

But it is in the players who will be asked to fill those gaps where we may find where the real meaning lies in this fixture, with some fringe men sure to have their recent patience rewarded at last with a chance to shine under the Celtic Park disco lights this evening.

Postecoglou has made it clear what he expects from them, and that is a seamless transition and a maintenance of the standards his team have set during a sequence of 13 games with 11 wins, one draw and just the one defeat – the 3-2 reverse away at Bayer Leverkusen.

For those who are handed that opportunity to get a rare start, there is the incentive to prove they belong in the side on a more regular basis by grasping a chance to give their manager something to think about.

“It won’t be meaningless tomorrow,” Postecoglou said.

“It’s a good test for us and an opportunity to measure ourselves against a quality team.

“I’ll be making some changes and it’s an opportunity to rest some guys who have played a lot of football and to give others who haven’t played as much recently some game time. Playing against a quality team will be invaluable for us.

“The players who we put out are all Celtic players. They train with us every day and they represent this football club.

“We expect them to uphold our standards and play the football we want. It’s an important game.

“We’ve already had a couple of injuries and we have these games coming up – I need guys to be ready. You saw Liam Scales. He hasn’t played much but he came on for 15 minutes on Sunday and made a real impact.

“We need other guys to do that and this game is an opportunity to show they are ready.”

That’s not to say though that Postecoglou has told those players in advance who might get the nod in order to prepare themselves.

“They have to be ready every day, mate,” he said. “I’m not telling them when they are playing or not playing.

“There have been plenty of times in my coaching career when I’ve seen someone is not right on the morning of a game. I can't start approaching players when they are potentially getting an opportunity.

“They have to train every day like they are involved at the weekend or midweek, irrespective if they are in my plans or not. It makes no difference to me, whether they have been playing or not.

“You train today like you’re playing tomorrow, and that’s whether you are Callum McGregor or one of the young guys.

“The expectations are the same. No one is promised anything apart from, if they train hard and do the right things, then they can come back to training the next day.”

The importance of the game to the finances of the club may not be lost on one or two in the Celtic boardroom, with €630,000 on offer for a win and €210,000 for a draw.

Unsurprisingly, avowed football man Postecoglou doesn’t exactly have that incentive at the top of his priority list.

“I don’t have that at the forefront of my mind to be fair,” he said. “Perhaps the financial controllers at the club might be thinking the other way, but it’s not something I’m thinking about.

“It’s about freshening up as we have some big games coming up between now and the break that are very important for our season – including the Cup Final.

“I don’t know mate, you’ll need to do the sums. What is financially more important to the club, is it tomorrow night or what’s ahead of us?”

Certainly, most Celtic fans would agree at this stage in the Postecoglou reign that what the club has ahead of them is a bright future under his stewardship.

From the first game of this group campaign away to Real Betis - where a fighting and thrilling performance was let down by sloppy defending as Celtic were edged out by the odd goal in seven - to now, Postecoglou believes he has seen some of the seeds he planted way back in the summer begin to be sown.

“Look, I think we have made progress in European competition,” he said. “Obviously, domestically as well.

“From where we started a while ago against Midtjylland the team has obviously evolved and every game we’ve kinda got a little bit more self-belief in our football, against really good opposition.

“We’ve had it pretty tough in our group, You are talking about Leverkusen, who are in third spot in the Bundesliga, Betis third spot in La Liga and Ferencvaros top of their league. It’s been a really good test for us with pretty much a new team and I think we’ve made progress in every game we’ve played.

“In the start of the last game I thought we played really well and then after there were parts we got punished, and then we emerged from that. As each game has gone on I think we’ve sorta made a little more progress in terms of the team we want to be."

Whether they ever get to the point where Postecoglou is satisfied though is unlikely.

“It’s an endless road, mate, so it’s hard for me to tell you now where we are at because I don’t know where we are going to end up," he said.

"My hope is we’re going to have success at this football club. What that success looks like I’m not going to put a limit on it, a cap on it.

“I’ll not try and tell you ‘this is where I see us in a year or two years’ because the way I’ve managed my whole career is if I started making targets then you succeeded in making those targets, then you are left scratching your head about why you sold yourself and your team short.

“I’m not going to sell this group of players or my team short by saying where our end point is. There is no end point. It’s just an endless road to improve and us trying to create some special moments for this football club and ultimately have success. That’s it.

“Are we further down that endless road than we were at the beginning? Absolutely. We have set some markers down and we are progressing for sure.”

 

OFFICER DOOFUS, WELL WELL. You are probably a very unattractive man, someone only a mother could love, ALTHOUGH...! I have word fettishes, and the one near the top of my list is yes, Spacker! Your boyfriend told me alittle earlier that you wear skirts and heels when you trott that word out. We have alot in common my fellow thesbian.

The huns are getting nervous and now the accusations are getting trotted out, like about Kyogo man and his so-called antics. They will be overtaken soon enough I feel.
Go the Hoops!

 

Apparently he has a clause in his deal with his club that would allow him to move for the fee they paid for him if it is to Europe as he didn’t want to move within Korea and it was the only way he would.

So somewhere between £1-1.5m has been rumoured. Again if we have Jota, he could be viewed as a project with a lot of potential upside.

 

Whoooosh...

 

* it tonight

 

Done it with Ralston and Juranovic






Done it again tonight.



* clown at times, needs to screw the nut.

 

Made a rip roaring * of it tonight.

 

He has f**ked it up big time tonight. The stupidest of stupid decisions. To risk our most important player an ONLY forward in a dead rubber, nothing game is shocking. If we are still in this title race come January it will be a miracle.

 

Love the guy but that was * idiotic. Why is he giving Kyogo any minutes at all tonight?

Livid with him.

 

Could have started him. Tried resting him and Ajeti got injured. More to do with our bad luck with injuries, couldn't make it up.

 

He's * it badly, let's be brutally honest..

He didn't need to put him on and for a whole host of good reason's....but did..

 

Bring on our only fit striker in a meaningless game for what 60 mins ? * baffling.

 

Absolute moron, why would he bring Kyogo on at all? Just play Johnston at Striker.

Praying its just cramp for Kyogo.