Ange Postecoglou watched from the sidelines as his Celtic side scooped the full three points at Fir Park in our penultimate game before the World Cup break. By his own admission it wasn’t our best display to the year and the Celtic manager accepted that Motherwell made his team work extremely hard for the victory.
The boss seemed slightly underwhelmed but it may just be that he is looking forward to the much needed respite that Qatar 2022 will bring this year from competitive club football. Having been constantly at it since the beginning of August, the Greek-Aussie admitted that the constant demand has taken its toll mentally and physically on his side.
However, he was more upbeat about the result and the determination from this group of players to keep going even when things aren’t going our way.
He revealed his pleasure at the contribution young Matt O’Riley has made to the team since we’ve been without inspirational captain and midfield lynchpin, Callum McGregor. Postecoglou is hoping that this spell of the deep-lying playmaker with defensive duties will help the Danish international become a more accomplished performer down the road.
Speaking also of his ability to rotate, such is the strength and depth of his hand, Ange was eager to point out the qualities of the guys from the bench; as David Turnbull and Daizen Maeda both linked up well for the Bhoys’ second goal of the match, which turned out to be crucial as Motherwell beat Joe Hart late on thanks to a Paul Tierney effort.
It is this rotation which has helped Celtic to maintain a healthy balance of winning and remaining injury free that has the gaffer most pleased ahead of the Ross County game.
His attention now springs to the Staggies at Paradise on Saturday at 3pm, where he has insisted the focus of everyone at Celtic Park and Lennoxtown is “we’ve got to finish strong.” It will be one final push from the squad as they look to cement their place at the summit of Scottish football going into this unusual break in the domestic calendar.
But Ange has said that he will be using this time wisely to organise and prepare for next summer and the inevitability of playing staff changes.
Watch Ange Postecoglou’s post match interview with Celtic TV below…
Here are the highlights from last night’s game…
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Paul Gillespie
