Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to Celtic TV today and that interview is now available to view to subscribers. For everyone else it will be a day or two before it’s available on the club’s You Tube channel in a day or two.
I’ve just watched the interview and there are a few interesting points worth mentioning. The manager is relatively happy with the first two wins, seeing progress in the performance at Dingwall on Saturday from the opening day win at Aberdeen and notes that even at this early stage in the season he’s had to make adjustments to his team due to injury (Reo Hatate) and illness (Stephen Welsh).
Other players have to be ready to step in and one falling into that category was Moritz Jenz who was called upon earlier that he might have expected to start at Dingwall as Welsh was forced to sit this out out with an illness issue while Carl Starfelt, just back from injury, wasn’t ready. The German defender had a game that he’ll never forgot and afterwards described that moment scoring the decisive second goal then celebrating with the delighted Celtic support as his career highlight – so far.
On the start to the season which after two games sees Celtic sitting at the top of the league, looking down on theRangers, Ange was moderately happy and the Celtic manager detailed his plans to utilise the time when it’s just one game at the weekend and no midweek fixtures at the moment, revealing that a few bounce games have been organised to benefit those players in the squad who aren’t starting at the moment.
“It’s been ok, it’s been solid, it was always going to be a different start for us after the pre-season we’ve had, we are obviously so used to playing three games a week but having a game on the weekend means our training model is different, we are still almost going through an extended pre-season with the work we’re doing with the players. That’s going to help us once the games do start,” Ange said.
“Our performances right through pre-season were solid and that’s continued into the first two games. The first game I thought there was some good stuff, I thought there was some stuff we could have done better but there was progression in the second game, the way we controlled it, it’s been a decent start.
“It’s like anything, it’s beneficial if we use it right, otherwise it’s a waste, for us we have been planning this for a quite well. It gives an opportunity, once the games start we know are not going to get a lot of time to do it, now is the time to bed it down.
“We have a couple of bounce games organised for the guys who haven’t played, so when we need to throw them in we’re match ready. You’ve seen in the first two games, we have had injuries and illnesses, I want to put them in knowing they are ready,” the Celtic manager stated.
Next up for Celtic is another tricky away-day this time down to East Ayrshire to face Derek McInnes’ Championship winners Kilmarnock on the artificial surface at Rugby Park. Perhaps Ange will look at his game-plan for the second visit to Livingston last season which finally got that hoodoo off Celtic’s back with a fine win on their plastic pitch?
“Every week is a different challenge, and this will be a different one,” Ange said as he looked ahead to Sunday’s game against Kilmarnock, which has a 12 noon kick-off time and is live on Sky Sports with subscribers to Celtic TV outside of Britain and Ireland being able to watch the match live as usual.
“They got promoted last year, Derek did a good job with them to get them up,” continued Ange. “I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to these fixtures, seeing whether they can disrupt us and stop us.
“Playing at their venue is another challenge, an artificial surface, which affects our game, certainly. All those kinds of things are there. As I said last week, whatever the challenge is, the answer lies within our football. As long as we concentrate on playing our brand of football, and believing it, we will be hard to stop.”
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