Gordon Strachan was part of the Viaplay media team for coverage of the Hoops Scottish Cup Fifth Round match up with St Mirren and was enthused by the fitness levels of both the team and the coaching staff – quipping that his son Gavin looks at least a stone lighter than before Ange Postecoglou took charge of the Bhoys.
Celtic ran out comfortable 5-1 winners in the end last night and manager, Ange Postecoglou joined the Viaplay media panel after the game to give his post-match thoughts. The sardonic Strachan couldn’t help himself with a joke about his coaching staff looking just as fit as his team under the Greek-Aussie, citing that Gavin looks far fitter too!
Speaking to Ange, the former Celtic boss was his usual, cheeky self and said to thr Hoops manager: “More importantly, your fitness levels are fantastic. How has Gavin lost at least a stone? It’s incredible, we’re wondering how you’ve done that. To take your team to that fitness level and your coaching staff.”
Ange, equally as quick on his feet, replied: “I’m not gonna have a shot at any of my coaching staff on their fitness levels – I’m the last one to talk about that. But it’s something we pride ourselves on. A lot of people talk about our football but in terms of the actual lads themselves they work so hard.”
All joking aside though, Strachan’s observations are very accurate as we seem to be able to just keep going no matter the circumstances and wear our opponent down, until the stage that they are completely dead on their feet in games. With a raft of changes from the bench including Reo Hatate, Liel Abada, Matt O’Riley, and new recruit Hyeongyu Oh, it’s no wonder St Mirren were up against it yesterday evening.
One of the key tenets of Angeball is the never stop attitude towards the way in which we play our football. We are equally as relentless now in 90 plus minutes as we are when the first whistle goes in games. Last year, you could see us blowing out of steam a lot of the time and it cost us sometimes in crucial moments – especially in European football.
Now though, we look a team that’s fitness levels are outstanding and it is one of the key factors in our pursuit of endless success under this current Celtic boss. Ange Postecoglou is building something truly special at Celtic Park and his immediate future appears to lie at Paradise along with his heart. We have three trophies to win this season and you wouldn’t bet against Ange bringing home another domestic clean sweep.
🍀 “I’m pretty blessed to be in the position I am working for a special football club”@CelticFC manager Ange Postecoglou joins the studio panel for a full-time conversation 💬#CELSTM | #ScottishCup | @ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/WrDbk09OWW
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) February 11, 2023
Paul Gillespie
