Ange Postecoglou reiterated Celtic’s achievements to the press at the weekend with his Heavyweight Champion comment.
Saturday’s draw against St Mirren was obviously a disappointing result for everyone at Celtic. Speaking to the media after the game, Ange remained calm, as he discussed where it all went wrong.
Celtic have looked defensively sound all season, but, have looked more vulnerable in the past few weeks, particularly in the absence of Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Talking after the game to BBC Sportsound, Ange said: “I thought St Mirren worked hard and did what they had to do, and we didn’t really control the game as well as we usually do.
“Mainly because we just didn’t work as hard on the defensive side of our game.
“It’s fair to say the last couple weeks we’ve gone off that a little bit and that doesn’t allow us to be relentless in the way we play and allows the opportunity for the opposition to get up the park.”
It is clear to see that the absence of the aforementioned Carter-Vickers has been a massive loss for the champions.
However, Ange was adamant that the drop in form recently and the five goals conceded in the last two weeks was not down to the missing centre-back, as he explained, “I can guarantee one thousand percent it’s not one player, it’s got nothing to do with Cameron Carter-Vickers. We’ve missed Cameron Carter-Vickers before, we’ve played Champions League football without Carter-Vickers. That’s the easy thing to look at.”
Ange refused to let his side pick an easy ‘get out of jail card’ for their recent performances.
He added: “We’re not working as hard off the ball (than we were) prior to winning the title. When you don’t, that’s what happens, and you can’t dominate games of football like we did. We pride ourselves on being relentless and you can’t just be relentless when you have the ball. For us, it’s more important that we are (relentless) when we don’t have it, and we haven’t been the last couple weeks.”
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS
Celtic’s performances of late have been below par and the fact that Ange is recognising this and speaking out about it is key. He understands that there is a level of quality expected from his Glasgow side and it’s important to recognise when they are not reaching that standard. For me, the key word he has used is “dominate”. For Ange, it’s not about scraping wins and picking up the three points no matter how you do it. Although the three points are the main goal, Ange wants to win them by dominating a game.
Another word he quotes all the time is “relentless”. These key words are so powerful. Ange is instilling a mentality within the squad where he wants them to believe they are unbeatable at all times, however, they need to be at the very top of their game at all times to achieve this.
The media will, as always, jump on any possible chance to belittle what Celtic have accomplished this season so far. Back-to-back league titles under Ange, one cup win away from another treble, it really is remarkable what this side have achieved in such a short space of time.
However, two bad results and the media are on it like they have nothing better to report. Once again, Ange uses his experience and intelligence to shut down any negative narrative that the media try to create.
Talking after the match, Ange reiterated Celtic’s achievements this season by saying: “Look, we’re champions. I get it that people are so obsessed.”
“The heavyweight champion of the world doesn’t have to win every round. But he holds the belt. We hold the belt.”
“So, people can try and write narratives. We play games of football with a certain underlying principle because we want to enjoy it, we want our fans to enjoy it and we haven’t done that last couple of weeks. But beyond that, if anyone looks at this team and says they are anything other than a champion group then they are just looking for things that aren’t there.”
No-one knows more than Ange that Celtic’s recent performances haven’t been up to scratch. I believe that Ange’s comments at the weekend were a message to both the Celtic fans and his players.
It’s been a tough few weeks, but that happens right?
There are 38 games in a season, you’re going to have a couple of bad ’rounds’.
As mentioned above, this season has been a near-perfect campaign, and there is still more success on offer, so it is nowhere time to panic and overreact about a couple of poor results.
BOBBY GORDON
It means he’s watching boxing on his IPTV.
Or we are Champions and he’s just pointing out the reality of sport.