Ange hoping new normal will bring a welcome change in fortunes
IT WAS the night a decade of unfettered Celtic success started to unravel and Ferencvaros striker Tokmac Nguen was the man who pulled on the loose thread. There was no crowd there to witness the Norwegian international squeeze a late winning finish underneath the suspect Vasilis Barkas but the words of Neil Lennon’s astonishing post-match interview echoed loudly beyond the confines of an empty Parkhead stadium and reverberated for months.
Angered at the way in which his team had been knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers, Lennon claimed several key players lacked focus and had been agitating for a move out of the club.
Celtic would go on to win their next eight matches but the seeds of discontent had taken root and broke the surface in a subsequent run which saw just one win accrued from 11 attempts.
Lennon would be gone by the following February, the club’s dream of a record-breaking 10th successive title in tatters.
The squad broke up, too, fulfilling Lennon’s words to such a drastic sense that Nguen & Co might do a double take as they return to Glasgow this midweek.
Of the 11 players selected by Lennon to start in August 2020 only one — Callum McGregor — will play against Ferencvaros on Tuesday.
It has fallen to Ange Postecoglou to oversee the drastic rebuild and he scored one small early success by navigating a path through the Europa League qualifiers.
The draw was not kind to the Australian, pitching him into a section with sides from the German and Spanish top flights, along with their Hungarian conquerors of last term.
‘I’m not going to bang on about it but anyone who takes a birds-eye view of what has happened will see there has been a major and structural rebuild on and off the pitch at the club,’ said Postecoglou.
‘The starting XI from 12 months ago will be almost unrecognisable to what it will be on Tuesday.
‘But I guess that’s the opportunity that exists now, to build something new that will be exciting for our fans and will hopefully bring success to the football club.’
No fewer than 12 players were recruited during Postecoglou’s first transfer window and the manager admits he spent the entirety of that period ‘throwing players’ at his evolving and understaffed starting XI.
When he got to the transfer deadline, he found his squad at the mercy of the potholes of international football and was left ruing injuries to star signing Kyogo Furuhashi and McGregor, the glue that binds the team together.
‘It was good to get through the international break without any drama,’ added Postecoglou. ‘The last one I spent on the phone, either to do with the transfer window or talking to the medical staff about the injuries we were picking up.
‘The last 10 days or so were good for the likes of James McCarthy, Giorgios Giakoumakis and Mikey Johnston in terms of their fitness but even guys like (Cameron) Carter-Vickers and Jota. People forget they arrived, had two sessions with us and then we threw them in.
‘Jota’s second game for us was away to Betis. Cameron the same. So it’s been good for those guys to have those 10 days just to settle their lives down and get a bit of normality around it.
‘Those first eight weeks, we were just throwing guys in left, right and centre. Kyogo literally met the players the morning of the Hearts game. Joe Hart met the players on the morning of that European game against Jablonec.
‘So this has been an opportunity to establish a normal routine and I think that has been enormously helpful.’
And yet Tuesday’s match will feel anything but normal. Europa League games occupy the Thursday evening slot in the UEFA match calendar but with Rangers also at home in this third round of group fixtures, the match had to switch dates. The unusual kick-off time of 3.30pm has been assigned to avoid a clash with the lucrative Champions League broadcast schedule later in the day.
‘Obviously you have to roll with it,’ said Postecoglou. ‘It’s an unusual set of circumstances that has turned this into an afternoon kick-off in midweek and we just have to plan around it.
‘My understanding is that we have still sold a ridiculous amount of tickets for this match given the situation. I’m sure some of our supporters have taken time off from work or family duties to support the team.
‘I’m very appreciative of that because part of the excitement of Europe an games is the atmosphere at Celtic Park and for me it’s really heartening and pleasing to hear we are going to have a good turnout.
‘Hopefully we will reward the supporters for those sacrifices.’
As for the game itself, both teams go in pointless after defeats to the section’s two heavyweights and their prospects of retaining a European interest beyond Christmas — most likely via a parachute into the Conference League — depends on getting the better of the double-header that will see the return played in Budapest on November 4.
‘These games are absolutely pivotal,’ continued the manager. ‘The first two games, the results weren’t great although I thought our performance against Betis was such that we could have got something out of that game.
‘Against Leverkusen, we had some really bright moments against quality opposition. But again we let ourselves down in big moments and paid a price.
‘It’s left us with the clear objective for Tuesday in particular that we have got to win the game if we are going to stay alive in the group. I think it’s the same for Ferencvaros. They’ll be looking at it in the same light, so it should be a cracking game.
‘Recent experience tells us this will be tough. Every European game we’ve had has been challenging whether that was Midtjylland or AZ (Alkmaar), they have all had their own challenges.
‘Apart from the Leverkusen game, our home performances have been good and strong. Hopefully that continues on Tuesday.
‘We have more options now. When I look back on those European games, it would have been great to have some attacking options to come off the bench.
‘Betis away we played with young Adam (Montgomery) as a starting left-winger and we couldn’t really change it up at all because Liel Abada and Kyogo weren’t available and Giakoumakis wasn’t ready.
‘That ability now to both rotate after the league game or even during the game, to change it up, we are in a much better shape to tackle what is in front of us.’