Ange a hard man to please – Scales on the half-time message from the manager – Postecoglou got that message across it wasn’t good enough…
The standards being set at Celtic are as a high as they are demanding under Ange Postecoglou, after all a 4-0 Scottish Cup win with a heavily rotated squad on paper looks a comfortable win, instead the scoreline papered over the cracks somewhat, after a particularly poor first half saw the Celtic players receive the ire of a Celtic manager unhappy with the tempo and lackadaisical approach.
One standout moment however was the superb strike by left back Liam Scales to open the scoring and put Celtic ahead at half time, a period where Ange Postecoglou, as reported by Football Scotland, made his feelings clear, and there were no complaints from Scales who agreed with the manager’s assertions that the first half performance was not at the levels demanded.
“There were mixed emotions as we didn’t quite get to our levels in the first half. We were much better in the second half and it’s good to progress in the competition. But it says the standards are very high here. The scoreline looked good but the performance wasn’t where it needed to be.
“The manager got that message across it wasn’t good enough and you saw the difference in the second half. I’m not sure why, we just weren’t clicking. It happens in football but we needed to be quicker and Raith did quite well.
“It’s a reminder the standards are so high. He wants us on top of our game no matter who we are playing against – and rightly so.
Does he have his moments? I’m not sure if I can say!“It’s obviously frustrating for him when we are not getting to the levels we know we can. He has to get his point across, like every manager does. “The competition is high here and everyone wants to do well when they get their chance, so it’s disappointing when you don’t hit those levels.”
Ange Postecoglou certainly got his point across as Celtic eventually took care of their opponent in the second half, but it was really only in the last 22 minutes that the goals game and some fluency returned to what was a fairly flat performance.
But it says a lot for the standards required at Celtic these days that a drop in levels and intensity of play is not even allowable in a home tie against lower league opposition in the Scottish Cup. It seems when Ange Postecoglou said ‘we don’t stop’ in that infamous pre-season training video there are no exceptions to his rule.
Niall J
