Ange Postecoglou is mixing things up for his Celtic team this morning, ahead of tomorrow’s visit to Livingston.
Celtic will train today, and instead of a session on a grass pitch at Lennoxtown, the pre-match run-out will be moved to the plastic pitch, with a view to getting the players used to a similar surface as they’ll encounter at the Tony Macaroni.
Celtic and Postecoglou of course raised a few eyebrows prior to the second leg Europa Conference League defeat to Bodo/Glimt for not training prior to the encounter on the Norwegian’s plastic pitch. This time around Postecoglou as reported in the Scotsman, is taking advantage of an extra days training afforded to him by the Sunday afternoon kick-off and allowing his players a feel for a surface that plays altogether differently than grass.
“We don’t always do it. It’s more about how I feel. We are Wednesday-Sunday this week, so we have an extra day between games. This just gives the players a little bit more of a feeling for it. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t. It’s not essential but it is a real thing – the pitch plays differently. There is no point trying to ignore it.
“I can tell the players to ignore it and play their normal game, but you do have to adjust. It becomes a little bit of a different game on that surface and the players need to be prepared for that. But that doesn’t mean it stops you from being successful. You just have to adjust your game and your approach, so that it removes any negative impact the pitch has on our football.”
In truth most plastic pitches are different too, with many players complaining Livingston’s in particular is one of the poorest surfaces to play on in the league, and whilst training on a plastic pitch at Lennoxtown may well be different from what the players will face at the Tony Macaroni, it will at least allow for some level of adjustment.
And for a Celtic side with an unwanted record in West Lothian they’d be keen to put to bed, it seems Ange Postecoglou is using every tool he has to his advantage ahead of an encounter Celtic simply have to win on Sunday.
Niall J
