Watch Ange Postecoglou deal with the mainstream media questioning in his usual direct and authoritative manner, never slow to pick up on any preposterous remarks like asking a manager who has coached at the World Cup Finals if it’s necessary to reach the Europa League group stages for his own career development. Ange practically eats the hack alive!
On the current form – Ange reckons that there’s much more still to come from Celtic and notes that the team must stand the test of time and perform over an extended period, not just through a short spell.
There is plenty of chat about the racist abuse suffered by Celtic Japanese star Kyogo on Sunday as supporters of theRangers travelled to Dingwall and he Australian’s words are absolutely spot on as he nails this issue once and for all. He has no issue with theRangers players and expects nothing from them, noting that the players take the knee before every game and that it was not theRangers players who were responsible for this racism directed towards Kyogo.
“It doesn’t matter who it involves, we don’t need to be impressed. It just has to happen. I don’t think (the)Rangers acted because they wanted to impress anyone, I would like to think people see right and wrong and just deal with it.
“This doesn’t need endless debates on radio or television on what should happen and why it happened. It is wrong, we know it is wrong,” the Celtic manager stated. “It is not something someone sees any grey in, I would be surprised because we all understand how people in that situation feel when you are the victim of something like this.
Every time Ange speaks, he highlights his professionalism, humanity and love of our game. We are indeed blessed to have him as our manager at @CelticFC HH pic.twitter.com/RGGg63ntXY
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) August 25, 2021
“They did the right thing in dealing with it and whoever else it happens to or whoever else wants to transgress, whatever organisation they are involved in, I expect it to be dealt with the same way.
“Just simple, deal with it and when the consequences come that quickly and without too much debate, I think people start to realise maybe a line has been drawn and we shouldn’t really conduct ourselves in this way any more.”
On how Kyogo is after suffering this disgraceful racist attack, Postecoglou had this to say: “”He’s good to go, absolutely. Has he been affected? It’s hard because unless you – it’s the old adage – walk a mile in a person’s shoes, how do you really know?
“He’s a really positive character, he is really enjoying his time here, not just the football but living here in a new country and a new experience. And when 99 per cent of your experience is overwhelmingly positive, that one per cent, I hope anyway because I feel responsible and protective of him, doesn’t affect his overall outlook. But it is easy for me to say, it hasn’t been directed at me,” Ange noted.
“But he is training well, he is a happy-natured guy and the club are supporting him, the players are certainly around him and he has been good. He understands this is not reflective of his experience here.”
On the match tomorrow Ange confirms that he has no intention of sitting in and defending the 2-0 first leg lead and instead Celtic will go looking for goals themselves, pretty much a re-run of the first leg then so it should be some game.
“I think that is the best approach from us. If we go there and try to defend for 90 minutes, I just think you are asking for trouble. They are a good team and we know at home they are going to be playing fairly high tempo and high intensity football to score a goal. If we sit back we are just going to invite pressure on ourselves,” the gaffer noted.
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— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 25, 2021
“Our best football has been going the other way, going forward, and if we score goals, it puts more pressure on the opposition. We won’t change our approach, it is the best strategy for us.”
New signing Josip Juranovic will not be involved as he is cup-tied having played for Legia Warsaw in the Europa League but there are no new injury worries from the weekend.
On the transfer front Ange talked of one or two arrivals but noted that there’s contingencies in place for any outgoing, stating that as of now there’s been no bids received. However he reckons that if these outgoings are to go through before the transfer window closes next week then things would probably need to start happening in the next few days.
Both Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard’s positions were discussed with Ange saying he’d be happy if both remained at Celtic this season, noting that they are contributing every day in training as well as on match day.
Watch today’s mainstream media conference below…
🗣 “I think our best football is going the other way, going forward and if we score goals, it puts more pressure on the opposition. We won’t change our approach as it’s the best strategy for us.”
Full #AZCEL Media Conference with Ange Postecoglou ⤵️#UEL | #COYBIG 🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 25, 2021
