Enjoyable Media Conferences today from both the Celtic Manager Ange Postecoglou and his striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, ahead of tomorrow evening’s intriguing Europa Conference League play-off first leg at Celtic Park. Celtic are match-fit, with the training levels the best that the manager has seen since arriving at the club last summer, the injury crisis has eased and he has options all over the park in terms of team selection. Meanwhile the visitors are playing their first competitive of the year and are currently in their pre-season. That can work as an advantage to both sides – depending on how you look at it – so what’s really interesting is the similarity in the way both teams play the game.
Ange addressed the timing of the tie, perhaps hoping that there will be some kind of advantage for Celtic in it. “It’s always an interesting one and there are positives and negatives. I think the fact that they’ve got the same manager, they play the same way – yes, they’ve lost four players, I think, from last year’ line-up – but they’ve replaced them almost like-for-like in terms of the style,” the Celtic manager noted.
“Sometimes in pre-season it can be a bit disjointed but I don’t think that’s going to happen from what we’ve seen of them in their pre-season games and having scouted them, they still look a very good team and it will be a good challenge for us.
“Yes, we are match fit and in good condition, so I’m hoping that is an advantage, particularly later on in the game but at the same time you’ve just got to prepare as if they’re going to be a good challenge for us and we’re preparing for them to play as they did so well in Europe earlier in the season.”
It’s clear that Postecoglou reckons that Bodo/Glimt are a fine side, with an excellent manager whose system and approach to the game is worthy of the admiration of the Celtic boss. What the Celtic Manager won’t be doing is changing his own approach to account for any particular threat he sees in the Norwegian Champions. “I’m not the tinkering type, mate” the Celtic Manager pointed out.
“I’ve been very impressed, and not just with their results,” Ange said. “From my perspective I like to look at football through a little bit of a different prism and see how teams play more than anything else, and their football’s fantastic, not just in Europe but domestically as well.
“They’ve got a really exciting group of young players who have bought into this style of football and it’s great to see because often, in all leagues around the world, even here in Scotland, sometimes we talk about teams with lower budgets and playing a certain way, but you don’t have to.
“If you get the right manager in and you get them to believe in something and work in a certain way, then you can play that kind of football, and coming from Australia it’s something I believe in strongly.
“So I’ve been impressed with their results, but more impressed with the manner in which they play their football. Getting an away win in Europe is not easy, even for the best teams. It’s part of the challenge of Europe. You know that going away from home is difficult because you know that not only are you facing opposition and opposition fans, different conditions and different pitch – everything’s a little bit of a challenge, so it’s not easy.
“The fact that Bodø didn’t lose away from home is probably more significant because it shows that they’ve got a really strong mentality and strong character within their team. So, from our perspective, we’re preparing to play a very good side and one that’s got a lot of confidence from their European exploits so far.”
Speaking about the injury situation Mikey Johnston drops out but Josip Juranovic is back after his illness while Yosuke Ideguchi was not added to the amended European squad – there were only three places available and he was still injured at the time the decision was made – so he’ll sit out the European games for now.
“From last weekend, Mikey Johnston picked up an ankle sprain, nothing too serious but it will keep him out for a little while. Everyone else came through okay, Josip Juranovic is available, he’s back training after missing the last couple of games. That’s it. Yosuke Ideguchi is not registered [for Europe]so he won’t be available but everyone else is okay,” Ange confirmed.
Giorgos Giakoumakis spoke very well too as the warm-up act for the main event of the day, the Ange Postecoglou presser. The hacks certainly seem less likely to take Ange on with any negative agendas, while the fan media guys in attendance certainly get the liveliest answers out of Ange!
