“A rest? Are you kidding me? There’s always things to do,” Ange Postecoglou told Celtic TV ahead of the game against Everton in the Sydney Super Cup. “That’s okay. The intensity and scrutiny is a constant, because I just want us to be better. I’ll get plenty of time to switch off when I retire,” The Celtic manager added.
“Right now there are important things to do and it’s my responsibility to make sure we are ready to go. The boys will have eight or nine days off and it will be good for them.
“It’s still a mid-season break so we don’t want them to get away from it totally, because we’ll need to get back into it. But the lads are really good, they are really focussed. It’s more of a mental break, with some work over that period,” Ange added.
“We want to get back and hit the ground running. We don’t want to be making up for lost time, or lost conditioning.
“Mentally it will be good for them, but I don’t think we’ll be far away from what we need to do.”
Ange spoke as his Celtic squad trained at the Accor Stadium in Sydney, where Celtic will take on the Premier League side in a few hours time. This of course could have been a Glasgow Derby but despite signing on the contract’s dotted line theRangers thought better of taking on the Hoops Down Under.
Ange of course has plenty of great memories of the Accor Stadium from his time as the boss of the Socceroos. It was here back in 2015 where Postecoglou’s Australia defeated South Korea to win the Asia Cup for the first time ever.
“I have some decent memories from here. Most of the international games were played here and we usually came out on top. It’s an iconic stadium that was built for the Olympics. It seems so long ago now but it was a special time. It was the first major trophy won by the men’s team and it meant so much.”
💬 “I’ll get plenty of time to switch off when I retire but for now, there’s still plenty to do and my responsibility is that we’re ready to go.”
🗣 Ange Postecoglou previews #CelticFC‘s game against Everton!
Tickets available here ➡ https://t.co/M5URGb0IoZ@TEGSport🍀🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/fWRDOxCi0S
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) November 19, 2022
On the challenge from Everton after the disappointing Celtic performance against Syndey FC in the Sydney Cup opener Ange had this to say: “We were disappointed the other night because we didn’t reach our levels. It was quite obvious the boys were off it a little bit.
“You have to take in to account the travel and so on but the good thing was the boys were disappointed themselves. It wasn’t me driving it. They just want to put on a good performance.
“We had a strong block of games and this is part of it that process and we went to finish off strong.
On playing Everton: “It’s always a good challenge and we’re looking forward to it. I’m sure Frank and Everton boys will enjoy being away from the Premier League.”
