Postecoglou says there is more to Come from Furuhashi
Celtic manager insists Japanese will be even better once players get on his wavelength
NO matter how many goals Kyogo goes on to score in his Celtic career, few will be as contentious as the one he notched against Hearts on Thursday evening.
Whether it was offside or not, the record books will show only that it counted, and that it was his 14th goal in just 22 appearances since arriving in Scotland.
There will be those who have been surprised by just how quickly the Japanese forward has adapted to his new surroundings and hit his goalscoring straps, but his manager Ange Postecoglou certainly isn’t among them.
Postecoglou’s faith that his first arrival – but almost certainly not the last – from the Far East would be the smash hit he is turning out to be comes not only from faith in his ability as a player, but in the one thing he knew as a certainty he would get from Kyogo; boundless energy.
His perpetual motion has proven difficult for defenders at both Premiership and Europa League level to contend with, but the worrying thing from their point of view is that Postecoglou feels there is even more to come from his buzzbomb of a forward, with his movement even perplexing his team-mates at times.
A recent run of three club games without a goal can be attributed to the Celtic players themselves not being quite on the same wavelength as the striker just yet, according to Postecoglou, and he thinks he will get even more goals once they get up to speed with where he wants the ball to be played.
“In terms of goals tally it’s hard to say [if I’ve been surprised by his impact], but I knew he could make an impact,” Postecoglou said. “I’m the person least surprised by the impact he’s had.
“I knew what a clever player he was and his movement is very hard to contain. Provided we played our football in a way I thought we could then I knew he would be a guy who could get goals for us.
“I felt probably the last two or three games we haven’t been using him as much as we can. I still think even within our team we’re still not as sharp as he is in terms of getting the ball to him in the right areas.
“But, the beauty about him is the way he works off the ball, defensively for us, is just outstanding. I’m glad he’s getting the reward of goals because that’s what strikers want. Even if he wasn’t scoring, his work-rate and effort has been outstanding. His movement was brilliant and he consistently does that. He’s just very hard to stop and from our perspective, it’s just about us getting in sync with him. Sometimes he’s just too sharp for us with his runs.”
The qualifier that is normally added by Postecoglou when he discusses Kyogo is that he has to be protected from burnout. The Japanese international has already been involved in six World Cup qualifiers since he arrived at Celtic, and played a full season in the J-League prior to his arrival.
Celtic struggled somewhat previously though when Kyogo was rested, such as in the draw at Celtic Park against Livingston, so Postecoglou’s aim in January is to find the necessary attacking reinforcements that will allow him to pull his star forward out of the action on occasion.
“It would be great to be able to do that,” he said.
“That’s the plan and I’m on record as saying this squad’s nowhere near the depth and the quality I want. I’m not complaining about that because I knew that would be the case, there was no chance we could do that in one transfer window.
“So, January gives us the chance to do some more, which I think will help us.”
In the post-match furore of Thursday evening, it was of little surprise to hear Postecoglou trying to steer the conversation back onto the football rather than the officials, as has been his style ever since his arrival in Glasgow.
What was a little surprising
The last two or three games we haven’t been using him as much as we can
though was that he did actually lose his cool with referee Bobby Madden and assistant Alan Mulvanny at one point during the match in uncharacteristic fashion over the erroneous award of a throw-in to Hearts.
His ire though was perhaps displaced onto the officials, he revealed, as his team’s failure to show more of a ruthless streak got his back up.
“I was more frustrated with us and not killing the game off,” he said. “I felt we played some fantastic football and that final bit, where you want to get the reward, I just felt we could’ve been more decisive.
“You know what football’s like, there’s always an opportunity for the opposition to get back in the game. I was sort of frustrated we weren’t as clinical in that front third as I know we can be and we have been in the past.
“We still have to defend. People keep on talking about our defence but it is another clean sheet for us. And that’s also without Joe (Hart) having to be extended too much.”
Celtic’s next opportunity to heed that lesson comes tomorrow lunchtime at Tannadice, and Postecoglou has warned his men they will be tested once more.
“It will be a good challenge,” he said. “They frustrated us here and got a draw against us. We’re expecting a tough game but our away form has been really strong and we just need to continue it.”
Cameron Carter-Vickers will be back in the squad for the trip to Tayside following a personal issue, while the game will come just too soon for Greg Taylor, who is expected to return next week.
Giorgios Giakoumakis will be missing for another two to three weeks as he recovers from a clean-up procedure on his injured knee.