A suited Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at his pre-match Media Conference today shortly after his appearance at the Celtic PLC AGM. Here’s what happened…
Q: You said when you were speaking at the AGM that you took some punches on the nose in the Champions League how do you turn that into a positive in the domestic game?
Ange Postecoglou: “To continue that analogy I think we got knocked out. I still think we are clear-headed and we understand it. For us there was no surprise in the level we faced and we know where we need to improve. As an exercise and in measuring ourselves and testing ourselves I think we did that.
“The players understand the sort of levels required and it is up to me and us as a collective to chip away at that gap so that when we are in it again and our job is to try and get in there next year and to be that little bit closer.”
Q: You don’t need extra incentives to win a league but having been there do you think it gives the players that thirst to go and get there again?
Ange Postecoglou: “That’s where the difference lies as you shouldn’t need extra incentives as the whole idea of Europe is that you have been exposed to that level so you know what is required and that should be your measure from now on. You’ve got to take that sort of mentality into your domestic competitions and if you do that then you give yourself a chance to be successful domestically.
“Also you have used the time wisely in between because there is no point in going through what we did this year and trying to address it in 12 months’ time if we have qualified again. You will have wasted 12 months of developing those areas both as a club, a team and as players and individuals.
“The idea is that we take the learnings from the Champions League and put them into the Premiership and cup competitions and try and play and raise our level of football. That gives us the opportunity to be successful again domestically and we will also have put 12 months of work into having more of an impact the next time we are in the Champions League.”
Q: Do you feel the players are better for the experience already or is that something that takes more time?
Ange Postecoglou: “Time will tell with the way the players sort of embrace that type of challenge. I have seen them grow through the games even though the results don’t sort of reflect that. The way they have taken on the responsibility, the way they have continually tried to play our football knowing that we have still got a way to go to get to that level is good.
“I have already seen growth in the domestic league as well because our performances there have been excellent. The amount of goals scored and the amount of chances we are creating is all down to the fact that we are taking the lessons learned in the Champions League into our domestic games.”
Q: You said in the AGM that in order to become a Champions League competitive club Celtic would need to be agile in the transfer market can you outline the specifics of what that actually means and if we will see that agility and aggression in the forthcoming transfer window?
Ange Postecoglou: “Hopefully you will have seen it already. Just cast your mind back to the winter window last year we brought in Hatate, Maeda, Ideguchi and O’Riley and we were really aggressive even though we were in a decent position in the league and going okay at that point. We have done that in the last window as well.
“That is just my belief and we are going to make those sort of strides, I don’t think you can quicken the process but you can accelerate our ability to bridge the gap whether that’a financially or on the field by being really aggressive and agile in the transfer market meaning that we’ve got to take opportunities when they come along or even before they come along and pre-empt things so we are ready to capitalise on things.
“Like I said in the AGM it can be a little bit unsettling because it may mean we have a high turnover of players but that is not because we want people to leave. If players are here and they are performing then you keep them but if it means players do well and want to move on to greener pastures then we have got to be ready, willing and able to facilitate that and that we replenish that with something that is going to take us further down the road.”
Q: You also said in a couple more transfer windows you will be in good shape how far do you plan ahead?
Ange Postecoglou: “Initially it was very short term and it is fair to say that 12 months ago my first transfer window was just about getting the team together. We didn’t have the numbers let alone the nucleus of a squad. I felt it wasn’t going to be enough to get us where we wanted.
“A lot of our signings where done because we needed to put a team together here. That was my kind of main focus. This football club will always be targeting a certain demographic from an age profile wise. From my perspective now I think you have got to look a couple of windows ahead every time and try and project potential outgoings and incomings and areas that you are going to need improvement in.
“My feeling with that is if you do that before it happens then you will be better placed to make better decisions rather than waiting for that moment and then trying to do it all at the last minute. That’s what we were left with when I first started and it was quite obvious that the group of players and nucleus of a team who had brought so much success to the football club had come to the end of a cycle.
“There was a lot of outgoings and we weren’t ready for that. If we were we would have pre-empted it. There were reasons for that. I’m always looking a couple of windows ahead to see how can we better when these things happen.”
Q: Has the exposure to the Champions League and what it takes to get to that level altered any plans for this window?
Ange Postecoglou: “Not really we were always planning to be pro-active and agile in this window. That hasn’t really changed. For me there was no surprises about the Champions League experience. I was under no illusions it was going to be tough. It was about exposing our players to it as it is one thing me saying it is going to be tough.
“Our players needed to go through it and you needed to see how they coped with that and how they grow through that. I have seen growth in the players and I don’t think they have lost any of their determination to perform at that level which is important.
“Neither do I think they have lost belief, if anything it has encouraged them and I always knew January was going to be another important window for us. We are still building. We are 18 months into building a football team. If what I am envisaging comes to fruition over the next 12-18 months then we should constantly be in a two or three year cycle of regenerating the team.”
Q: Does this World Cup break help or hinder a manager who is trying to mould a team?
Ange Postecoglou: “My gut tells me that this World Cup is going to be tough for all managers of every club around then world. I think you are already seeing it. There are so many players who are now getting injuries right up until the eve of a World Cup.
“For a lot of players the World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When it is in the off-season and they have a little niggle it is one or two weeks and they have time to recover before a World Cup. Literally right up until next weekend a player could be out for two or three weeks and he will miss the World Cup.
“I think it is going to be challenging and then you think about potential injuries or fatigue factor coming out of a World Cup. It is going to be a challenge for everyone. From our perspective we have factored that into it and we are not going to have to much of an impact on our squad as will have three or four players there. The rest will be under our charge which will help us prepare for the second half of the year.”
WATCH ANGE POSTECOGLOU’S MEDIA CONFERENCE AHEAD OF TOMORROW’S MATCH AGAINST DUNDEE UNITED AT CELTIC PARK, BELOW…
