Postecoglou’s early taste of Silver whet appetite
Celtic manager feels League Cup win set the tone for his season We didn’t say ‘okay, we have won a trophy, we are okay for the rest of the year’
FOOTAGE emerged last week of a relaxed Ange Postecoglou shooting the breeze as he was interviewed by an Australian television network. All that was missing from the scene was a glass in hand to kick back as they chewed the fat. Just don’t make it a Treble.
The Greek-Australian inevitably batted away any queries about what tomorrow’s Scottish Cup clash against Dundee United at Tannadice could mean for his side. Too long in the tooth to invite further pressure on his team, Postecoglou was reluctant to see the game as anything other than a stand alone fixture.
As he enjoyed a wry smile with his compatriots at TalkSport pundit Alan Brazil’s toe-curling reaction to news of his appointment, Postecoglou seemed to express appreciation of the esteem he has quickly been held in by the Celtic support. The manager’s popularity will further soar if he can deliver more trinkets into the trophy cabinet.
The league remains the be all and end all but there was interesting insight as Postecoglou spoke of just how important the League Cup was to Celtic back in December, the first trophy of his Parkhead career and the first that signalled Celtic were on the road to recovery following the chaos of last season.
If his celebration was fairly unassuming, his awareness of what it signified was not.
“I had a couple of quiet scotches to myself and that is the extent of it for me,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that the players celebrated their efforts because I think it was a fantastic day.
“The semi-final and the final at Hampden were sensational days in my experience of them as Celtic manager. I enjoyed them immensely. It helps when you are successful but it was a great atmosphere and a great occasion and for us it was important because it showed people we had made progress.
“We had a tough beginning to the season in terms of form and results so winning a trophy in the first half of the season was really important as a marker for us. We acknowledged it but also knew we had a game two days later so it was important we used that as a good impetus for us. We didn’t rest on our laurels and say ‘okay, we have won a trophy, we are okay for the rest of the year’. If anything it whet the appetite for more.”
Since then Celtic have recovered significant ground in the league and reversed a deficit to now stand front and centre with eight games still to play and a three-point cushion over rivals Rangers.
Progression into the latter stages of the Scottish Cup with a win over Dundee United would ensure that Postecoglou needs to prepare himself to bat away further Treble talk. His most important challenge, though, is ensuring that his side peaks as they prepare now for the run-in.
“That’s why January was so important to us, bringing in players who could make an impact straight away,” he said. “That meant through that critical phase we could rotate the squad, keep players fresh and the intensity levels high.
“I’ve always found you have more issues at the beginning of the year because the players are not accustomed to playing at that intensity. It doesn’t matter what you do in pre-season, it doesn’t replicate playing games on a regular basis.
“We struggled at the beginning of the year, you saw that with a lot of injuries because we didn’t have the squad to rotate. We overburdened certain players because we had to keep playing them. You know the important stuff happens at the end of the year, so it’s important you are really strong at the end of the year.
“The reality is that the key part of the season is still ahead of us and we need to make sure we work well and prepare properly for every game and deal with the challenges before us. Training is good and it is intense but I think that is because I have a fit and healthy squad and they all want to play.”
It also means that there are players overlooked for a starting slot. Such has been the success of his January arrivals that there is a pub argument to be enjoyed over what his strongest starting XI now is.
“How do you define happiness?,” said Postecoglou. “I’ve never worried about players being happy. I assume players get their happiness from winning things and being part of something successful.
“I don’t expect them to be walking around with smiles on their faces and singing a tune if they are not playing. I want them to be disappointed and determined to break in, as long as they don’t use that in a negative way. At the moment, training is really competitive and at a great level because they want to play and be a part of it – they don’t want to miss out.
“They are disappointed if they miss out but what they do with that disappointment is come back to training the next day and try and show me they are ready to go should they get called up. That’s the important thing.”