Ange heaps praise on Strachan for set-piece productivity
ANGE POSTECOGLOU has credited coach Gavin Strachan with increasing Celtic’s productivity at set-pieces this season.
In each of their first three Premiership fixtures, the champions have scored a goal directly from a corner.
Stephen Welsh got the season off to a flier when he headed in Matt O’Riley’s cross after less than four minutes while a short corner worked between Greg Taylor and Jota saw the Portuguese tee up Moritz Jenz at Ross County.
Last weekend it was Carl Starfelt’s turn, the Swede scoring his first goal for the club on the rebound after O’Riley picked out Cameron Carter-Vickers from another dead ball.
The arrival of Jenz in particular has given Celtic an extra aerial threat as Postecoglou expands his team’s armoury.
‘It’s just the natural evolution of the team,’ he said. ‘Gavin Strachan is in charge of that area and puts a lot of work into it.
‘There’s also been a change in personnel, we’ve got players who really attack the ball.
‘Cameron scored four goals last season from centre-half so it’s good to see more defenders contributing.’
Much maligned prior to the change in management that saw Postecoglou appointed last year, Strachan has emerged as an important part of the new backroom set-up. And the Celtic boss added: ‘We want to hurt teams in different ways. If they close us down we have to find different ways to score.
‘We’ve got guys like O’Riley, David Turnbull, Aaron Mooy and Jota who have very good delivery.
‘Gavin puts a lot of work into it and we now have the players to capitalise on it.’