Former Dundee manager James McPake believes that Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side were the toughest opposition he faced this campaign, in comparison to Glasgow rivals Rangers.
McPake, who was recently sacked as boss of the Dens Park side, achieved promotion to the top flight of Scottish Football, which saw Dundee back amongst the big guns in the Premiership.
The former Hibs defender has now been seen as a pundit covering Scottish Football on channels such as Sky Sports, and was asked this evening during his appearance on the Go Radio Football Show who the toughest side he had come up against was.
In his admission, McPake stated the Celtic were the most formidable opponents he had taken on, after coming off the back of two emphatic 6-0 and 4-2 defeats, which saw Postecoglou’s side play some of their best football this season.
“To differentiate both teams from managing against them, the first time we went to Celtic Park when Ange was just there, it hadn’t quite clicked,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“Kyogo made his debut, and they beat us 6-0. I don’t remember that one very well…but they were great that day, and you could see something was building.
“The Rangers game under Steven Gerrard, we had to change and give them all the respect they were due.
“I believe we were very unlucky. Jason Cummings missed a penalty, and we had double the shots on target of Rangers that day, but they won the game, so fine.
“The game when Celtic came to Dens, they killed us again. They scored the early goal, then they got another one, and they were relentless.
“You’ve no chance when they do that. You think you’ve got a chance; then they come out again at the start of the second half.
“That’s one thing I noticed about Celtic: they’re very aggressive at the start of both halves, and they’re ultra-aggressive once they get a goal.”
He continued, “If I was to pick one I wouldn’t want to play against – the two of them would beat us! – but Celtic have been the ones that we really struggled against.”
Since his arrival in the summer, Ange Postecoglou has well and truly made his mark on this Celtic side and Scottish Football as a whole.
The former Socceroos boss has got his side playing some unbelievable football at times, which have led to several very entertaining afternoons for the Celtic supporters.
That impact is also clear to see on managers within the game, with the likes of McPake having a lot of good things to say about the 56-year old and the way his side plays football on a weekly basis.
The scary thought for many of these managers is that Ange is only getting started, and by his own admissions, this current side are nowhere near the finished article during his project and rebuild.
