THELEVELIS IN THE DETAIL
An ominous warning for the rest as Celts boss Ange says he can make his relentless side even better now he has extra time for training
ANGE POSTECOGLOU insists high-flying Celtic are about to go up another level.
The champions re-established their nine-point lead at the top of the table with a comfortable win over St Johnstone yesterday.
Despite an awful park, Postecoglou’s boys bagged four goals as they kept their foot firmly on the title pedal.
An own goal from Andy Considine got the scoring underway with Kyogo, Aaron Mooy and David Turnbull – in between a stunner from Saints’ Drey Wright – rounding off a comfortable afternoon’s work in Perth.
Celtic have won 27 of their 29 domestic games this term, but Postecoglou (right) reckons they can now step it up yet another notch.
With free midweeks until next month, the gaffer believes extra fine-tuning time on the training pitch can lift the lofty standards even more.
Asked if there was more to come,
Postecoglou said: “There has to be. Some really good players didn’t get on the pitch and some really good players didn’t get in the squad.
“For about four or five weeks, now we have a game a week, so that gives us the chance to work really hard at training and get everyone up another level, another notch, and increase our performance.
“It will give us the opportunity to do that.
“When you do have three games a week, it limits the opportunities to work on our game, our game patterns and individual work with the guys and collective basis.
“The guys want that. We can’t, as coaches, look to the games for improvement, we have to make sure we are giving them what they need on a daily basis and I’m sure we will use this period wisely. We have set our mark as always trying to finish stronger than we started and we are well on the way to that.
“We are definitely getting stronger every week and that’s what we want to do until the end of the year.”
Postecoglou’s team refused to bend their principles in Perth.
Although the playing surface was dreadful, the champions stuck to their beliefs and style to the demand and delight of their manager.
Postecoglou said: “The players have this really strong mindset, that they don’t veer too far away from our kind of football.
“We knew it was going to be tough because of the pitch. It’s a tight pitch anyway and we know St Johnstone are always hard to break down.
“I thought we handled it
really well in terms of doing the hard bits of the game, working hard and everything. The quality of our football was outstanding.
“It is very easy to think it is going to be a bit of a grind and you just want to get the three points and get up the road. But I said to the lads before the game, ‘Don’t waste any game of football’. There is a goal to be found out there all the time if you are prepared to stick to your principles.
“It’s pleasing the players look for that. They’re not just going out there and saying, ‘Let’s get the three points and get on with it’.
“They wanted to put on a strong performance and they did. They were great goals and we had a couple more we should probably have put away.
“We conceded a goal which was disappointing but I thought the reaction was exactly what you want.
“We went up the other end and scored a quality goal. In what could have been potentially a really difficult game we exerted our authority well.”