As Celtic’s pre-season camp in Austria draws to a close after ten days, manager Ange Postecoglou has given his thoughts on where he believes Celtic are at just now.
The Scottish Champions have already played two matches with a 7-0 victory against SC Wiener Viktoria and a 3-3 draw with Rapid Vienna.
There has been plenty of squad rotation with the boys who returned from international duty only featuring in Saturday’s match so far.
It has been vitally important to get minutes into players legs and the Hoops look as though they are starting to get back into a rhythm.
“Yeah it’s been a good camp. We’ve got through the majority of the work we wanted to and most of the players have got through them. We’ve had a couple niggly injuries which meant some players missed a couple of sessions here and there. We had some decent game time,” said Ange Postecoglou speaking to [Celtic TV].
“The main focus is always the same because whether it’s the beginning of the season or middle of the season we just want to make sure that we provide an environment for the players to work hard and improve and get them ready for game one.
“That’s the whole point of pre-season I guess, you can’t look too far ahead. It’s about creating a strong foundation but the ultimate priority is to be ready when the league kicks off.”
Postecoglou was not afforded the luxury of having a pre-season with a full compliment with players arriving at different points of the window but this time spent away in Austria should prepare the players thoroughly for the challenges to come.
The manager has a specific footballing philosophy and this camp will hopefully continue to develop Ange’s way across to the players as the Hoops prepare to come back bigger, better and stronger.
“Yeah to a certain extent I mean like I said at the end of last year we kind of created a sort of way of playing that we want to continue evolve and improve on. Pre-season is a combination of obviously trying to get some match fitness into the players but also you know it’s that one time of the year where you know you don’t have competitive games that you can actually work on your game model of training.
“What you’re trying to do is create as I say an environment, a training environment where you can combine both. Players getting their fitness but also improving our game.”
Before returning back to Glasgow the Hoops take on FC Banik Ostrava tonight to celebrate the clubs centenary with a large crowd expected.
So far it’s been a good workout for players and there will be many supporters who are eagerly anticipating getting back to Celtic Park on Saturday.
