After last night’s impressive League Cup win up in Dingwall, Ange Postecoglou shared his thoughts on the 4-1 win over Ross County that earned his side a place in the quarter-finals where we will play Motherwell at Fir Park.
“I was really pleased and all credit to the boys as I made nine changes tonight and that can easily affect the fluency and cohesion of the team,” Ange said.”I keep saying these boys train really hard every day and they are prepared for their opportunity and they did that tonight.
“I thought they were outstanding. To come here and win 4-1 against a difficult opponent is a credit to the players.”
The Celtic manager continued: “I think all the boys did well and we didn’t have anyone who did not perform to the levels that we would want them to and they aspire to.
“For a lot of boys, it was their first start and they could easily have used this game as an excuse to build into the season but nobody out there looked as if they hadn’t been playing and that is a credit to them.”
When asked about his reaction to drawing Motherwell in the last eight of the League Cup, Ange said: “It is another away game and it would be nice to be at home. It will be a good challenge for us and the most important thing is that we are still in it.
“In a cup game, the ultimate aim is to get to the next round and it is pleasing for me that we did that in a convincing way and we have another round to go and that is the most important thing.”
And the Celtic manager insisted that the team he selected last night was not for the purpose of looking ahead to future fixures, but rather as the team he thought would win the game. “I picked a team tonight that I thought would win us the game. I didn’t pick a team because I was looking ahead to other games. It was just that I felt that we put a lot of effort into the weekend.
“I could have gone with the same team but we would not have got the same intensity or energy levels. Being able to call upon the guys tonight we started the game brightly and I think everybody saw that.
“The only reason we haven’t changed the game a lot is that we are playing one game a week. We saw last year when we played the kind of football we want if you rely on a certain core of players eventually they will break down.
“Now we are in a better position where I don’t need to do that and make sure we have everyone in really good condition.”
He also provided an update on the knock defender Stephen Welsh picked up during the game. “He had a little bit of a niggle with his groin. He thought he could persevere and it got worse in the second half, hopefully it is nothing too serious. Looking at it, it didn’t look too bad and we will assess it tomorrow.”
Ange has had a successful start to the season with six wins from six games. He was asked about his thoughts on Celtic’s current form, and if it’s good enough for the upcoming Glasgow Derby.
“Our form has been good and we have been improving every game. We had a little bit of an unusual start because it is only one game a week and we used pre-season to replicate the two games a week schedule.
“The boys were working really hard in the first two or three weeks of the season and you could see that and we may not have been as sharp as we have been in the last couple of weeks. I think every week we are improving and it has been positive so far. We now look to the next challenge and make sure we are ready for that.”
Celtic’s recent form has been fantastic, scoring 25 goals in just the first six games of this season’s campaign. After the successful performance from Celtic yesterday, Ange’s sights will now turn to the Glasgow Derby this weekend, as we hope to maintain our form and our winning run that will stretch the lead at the top of the league, looking down on theRangers, to five points.
COYBIG
🍀 @CelticFC manager Ange Postecoglou reacts to his side's Premier Sports Cup win over Ross County, drawing Motherwell in the next round, and potential transfers
"There's some things happening, but I'll be on a bus for the next few hours and I'll find out when I get off!" 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/W8VRgEQlpC
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) August 31, 2022
