Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has explained that his players will question him when he asks them to play out from the back.
Over the past summer, the Australian landed in Scotland a largely unknown quantity. Most noted for his spells coaching in Australia and more recently Japan, the Bhoys faithful may not have known what to expect from their new manager.
Now, 13 league games into the season, things may be a little clearer, but it seems the Celtic players are still coming to grips with some different tactics.
Will Ange lead Celtic to the title this season?
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Indeed, while talking in an interview with Open Goal, Postecoglou explained that the constant demand for his team to play out from the back can have his men asking questions of him.
He said: “I can still see sometimes late in the game they’ll look over the bench and say: ‘You really want us to play out again?’
“It’s human nature. Look, there’s plenty of times I’ve questioned myself and gone, ‘ah, maybe I’ll just ignore their look and just tell them that I didn’t see it.
“But I can’t, so I say, ‘No, no, play, keep playing’, you know. So we’re still at that stage.”
When asked, he also went on to say that he’d tell his players to play the same way even if he was coaching a much lesser team such as League One side Peterhead.
TIF Thoughts on Ange Postecoglou and Celtic…
It certainly seemed as though it took some time for the players to understand what their new boss was asking of them. The Bhoys didn’t win any of their first three competitive fixtures under Postecoglou.
Meanwhile, it could be seen as worrying that he claims there are still questions being asked of him mid-game from his own players – though this is arguably a measure of the changes Postecoglou has had to enforce since arriving in Glasgow.
And to his credit, he has now seemingly steadied the ship, with Celtic pushing for the league title, sitting just one place and four points behind league leaders Rangers.
Still only in his first season in Scotland, the Australian has yet to realise his full vision with the club. But the more his side continue to win games, the less his players will doubt his tactics.
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