Celtic return to Tynecastle for the first time since the opening day of the season on Wednesday night. That curtain raiser ended in a disappointing 2-1 defeat, Celtic being denied a point with a wrongly disallowed goal.
Reflecting on the game, one journalist suggested that it was a baptism of fire for Ange Postecoglou. However, the Celtic boss disagrees. “I wouldn’t call it a baptism as I’d already been baptised – we had Champions League games before that,” Ange said.
The manager continued by saying: “We played okay and did enough in the game to get a result. But not winning wasn’t a great way to start.”
The team have come a long way since then, with a number of changes being made to the squad. A mark of the chaos surrounding the early rebuild is that Kyogo had only arrived from Japan on the same day that he made his debut.
Ange told the Daily Record: “It was a pretty hectic period. Kyogo had just arrived at lunchtime that day. He had lunch with the boys then I put him on the bench. Starfelt had just joined us too so it was a pretty tumultuous time.”
The Bhoys have endured a horrendous run of injuries throughout the campaign, and with three players picking up knocks against Alloa, ailments continue to plague to squad. Furthermore, Rogic and Maeda will be absent on Wednesday due to international call ups. Nevertheless, the team are in much better shape for the trip to Tynecastle than the first time round.
“Things have changed a fair bit since then,” Postecoglou commented.
“We were still putting a team together but have now developed the squad. It’s a stronger squad and, more importantly, a more settled squad. The players know how we want to play our football a lot better now.
“It’s constantly improving which is great. We are in a good space, while knowing we need to keep improving.”
