Postecoglou to demand even more from Celtic next season

ANGE POSTECOGLOU insists he will set even higher standards for his Celtic players as they return to pre-season training this week.

Having built a team almost from scratch to take the Premiership title back from Rangers at the first attempt, the Australian manager knows he has lost the element of surprise going into his second year in Scottish football.

Speaking to the Empowering Leaders with Luke Darcy podcast, Postecoglou vowed to demand even more from a squad that went 32 games unbeaten to land last season’s crown. He said: ‘If you’re ahead of the pack, you’ve got to be better than you were last year.

‘Because whatever marker you’ve set down, the clubs chasing you will surpass that mark. That’s their objective.

‘We’ve got to be further ahead, but that’s only going to happen if on the first day of pre-season the guys come in and think, “Okay, we’ve gone up a level again”. I mean in terms of our environment, our tempo and intensity. How we’re going to approach things, how we’re going to play.

‘Maybe the fact I was underestimated when I came in worked in my favour.

‘This season, people will say, “Okay, we know who he is now. We can’t underestimate him because we know what he can deliver”.’

Postecoglou has added goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist on a free from Dundee United, while a deal is close for £3.75million left-back Alexandro Bernabei from Argentine side Lanus. He will use the lure of Champions League football to add more new faces — and get more from his existing players.

‘The kind of things I could have used as tools again this year don’t exist,’ he said.

‘But there are other things we can do. We’re in the Champions League, which is unbelievable. We’re going to play against some of the best football clubs in the world.

‘The coaches, and myself as the leader, have to match and deliver those expectations of wanting more, going further down this path to try and achieve something special.’