Ange Postecoglou watched his Celtic side maintain their winning run and breeze into the Quarter-final of the 2023 Scottish Cup, after a dominating 5-1 win over St Mirren and admitted that his team had to work for it. Celtic Park was once again bouncing as the fans came in their thousands to support as good a Celtic team as we’ve seen in modern history.
Fast on his way to becoming one of the Celtic greats, Ange always insists it is only the result of the hard work of everybody at the club – including the playing staff – that sees success in the form of silverware and trophies make their way to Parkhead. Speaking to Celtic TV after the game last night, he said: “It was a good cup-tie. Credit to St Mirren, they came at us and we had to work hard for it today.
“But it was credit to the lads – they stuck to the task, we maintained our discipline and we made the energy they used work against them in the last part of the game. There was also a great contribution from the guys coming on, so all-round, we’re pleased to be into the next round. It’s one thing having a good squad of players like we have, it’s another that being effective and it can only be effective if the players embrace that, and they have.’
“They work hard every day and they understand that only 11 start but whatever minutes they get they’re ready for and they want to make a contribution. They all contributed today, which was pleasing, and it was great for the big fella up front to get a goal as well, so the subs have made a contribution at the right time as well.”
The boss also reserved special mention for Daizen Maeda – who put in a typical Maeda-like performance yesterday to run the Buddies’ defence and midfield ragged before finding the back of the net to put us ahead – and USA international, Cameron Carter-Vickers. On Maeda, he said: “It was obviously disappointing to lose Kyogo but that’s why we’ve got a squad of players.
“That’s why we work hard every day with all of them, and Daizen’s not unfamiliar with that position. I’ve used him there before and he took his goal well and worked hard for us. But I thought, even when he was on the wing he was probably the most threatening of our players, so I thought he was really good today. With strikers, goals are their fuel. We’re drip-feeding Oh at the moment and introducing him slowly but you can see at training that he’s starting to get up to speed, but there’s still a long way to go.
“But scoring a goal like that, especially at home in front of the fans, I’m sure he doesn’t need any extra motivation but I’m sure he’ll be bouncing during the week and wanting another opportunity.
On the Dafabet Man of the Match, Carter-Vickers, Ange had this say: “He had to work hard for it today and part of it was it was going to be a bit of a battle, particularly with the way they play and Cameron was outstanding,” he said. For the most part we kept them away from our goal and Joe wasn’t required too many times and that was because of Cameron and Carl. The whole back four, I thought, were really solid and disciplined. We didn’t really give them too much encouragement, which helped us at the other end.”
Watch Ange’s full reaction with Celtic TV below…
Paul Gillespie
