Celtic reach unusual point of Premiership campaign as Ange Postecoglou alters outlook

A unique point has been arrived at in the season for Ange Postecoglou and his Celtic squad.

Over nine months of the campaign, Postecoglou has never had a midweek between games when he has had his full playing pool in the building at Lennoxtown. Only international breaks, with many of his team off representing their countries, and the winter shutdown have accounted for previous pauses.

Now the Celtic manager has the luxury of a very different week-to-week environment across the next fortnight that is a product of the club’s meek exit from European competition last month. Following 14 games in little over seven weeks since the turn of the year wherein they have established a three-point lead in the cinch Premiership, it would be understandable were the Australian to see two free midweeks as the opportunity to provide his players with some down time. Especially when their Scottish Cup quarter-final tie away to Dundee United does not roll around till next Monday. Yet that is simply not how Postecoglou chooses to operate. It just wasn’t in his thinking to say his farewells to his team following their impressive 3-1 victory in Livingston on Sunday and offer a “see you in a couple of days”. The advantages to be had from the unwanted absence of continental commitments - as title challengers Rangers will have the exertions of a Europa League last 16 assignment over Red Star Belgrade in the next two Thursdays - revolve around training ground time with his full group.

“It’s not about days off [in this period], it’s just about freshening them off a bit,” he said. “The players will still be in at Lennoxtown, but they will come in with a different mindset. When you know there is a game coming up in midweek, you tend to just work on your recovery. It will be great for the players to just train as normal as this is the first free midweek we have had all year.

“I will freshen up a few and I’ll also get the chance to put some real good physical work into others who need it. It’s eight days between Livingston and the cup game on Monday, and then we don’t play again until the weekend [at home to St Johnstone]. That’s two good weeks of training before the international break and that is valuable time for us as coaches as we can actually do some work with the players.”

The Celtic squad are unlikely to be grumbling over a full training programme in the next fortnight. It is only possible to admire how every one of the players under Postecoglou’s charge this season as the Celtic squad has been comprehensively remoulded has pushed themselves to their limits. His four recruits from Japan have essentially been playing straight through for more than a year, while his captain Callum McGregor has strapped on a mask to turn out with two facial fractures.

“This team deserves great credit. We had guys coming in without a pre-season with us. Others didn’t have a pre-season at all. Callum is another one who has really put himself out there for the team,

“You talk about the challenges, the pressure and the intensity at Celtic - but it’s credit to these guys that they have faced everything this year.”

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