Ange Postecoglou has had a luxury this week that he hasn’t been granted very often this season, a full week of training his squad uninterrupted by a midweek fixture. The Australian is a big believer that time spent on the training field is hugely important as he tries to implement his style of play on the whole squad, drilling every player on the role they are expected to play on the pitch come matchday.
Celtic’s 3-1 victory on the dreaded plastic pitch against Livingston was the managers 50th game in charge, which shows how incredibly hectic the schedule is for the club, something that Ange joked about on Australian TV during the week. He joked Celtic have almost played double the games teams in his homeland play during an entire season, with a season in the A-League only consisting of 26 games.
Speaking at today’s news conference, attended by The Celtic Star, Ange Postecoglou had this to say regarding having that extra time at Lennoxtown throughout the week:
“It’s been good, it gives us more of a chance to map out the week and do some different types of training. When you’ve got such a heavy schedule, you’re aware of making sure players are recovering well and freshening up rather than putting some meaningful work into them.
“We’ve had some good sessions so far this week and, as I said, it gives us a chance to do different types of sessions.
“Training is very competitive these days because, as you can imagine, with everyone pretty much fit they all want to be part of it, so credit to the lads that it’s been a good level.”
With Celtic now out of Europe after losing comprehensively to Norwegian champions Bodø/Glimt in the UEFA Conference League, the club will have a maximum of eleven games remaining this season granted they go all the way to the Scottish Cup final. Celtic meet Dundee United this Monday evening in the quarter final stage of that very competition as they continue their quest to secure a sensational treble this season, something even the most optimistic of us couldn’t have envisioned at the start of the summer.
At times during this campaign, Celtic have been handicapped by what felt like an almost never ending run of injuries, recently however these problems have cleared up and the squad is almost relatively injury free for the first time this season. Now is the perfect time to have a fully fit and firing squad as we enter the final stages of a hugely important season, with the promise of automatic Champions League entry for the Scottish Premiership winners.
Ange Postecoglou is happy with how his players have been performing on the training pitch, stating the levels he has viewed this week have been unsurpassed at any time during his tenure at Celtic Park.
“We know there are massive challenges ahead and we’ve put ourselves in a good position to have success this year. The most important bit is ahead of us so it’s more about where we go from here. We’re in a good place in terms of the health of the squad and training is probably the most competitive it’s been all year.’
“From a physical perspective, the numbers we’re getting back show the players are in a good space and our performances have been fairly stable. Those indicators show we are in a good space to finish the season strong but that’s me just sitting here right now saying that.
“Observationally, without looking at the data which I do every day anyway, my sense is that our training is at the best level it’s been this year, so you hope that transfers into the games.”
It’s fantastic to hear the squad is performing at such high levels during training this week. We are in for a colossal battle during the remainder of this season and every match will be like a cup final so we will need every member of the squad performing at their peak. With competition for places stronger than ever this can only be an advantage as every player gives his all to win their spot on the team.
Lets start by moving in to the Scottish Cup semi final on Monday.
Conall McGinty
Now watch this…
