With one game to go before domestic football pauses for the World Cup, Ange Postecoglou has spoken of his delight with his sides domestic form.
Coming back from the last international break, the Scottish champions had to play a gruelling 13 games in 43 days but have shown perfect domestic form in amongst that time having won all seven league matches which included tough trips away to Tynecastle and the Tony Macaroni Arena.
The form shown in domestic football doesn’t just stretch back to then with the Hoops having lost only once in the past 46 league games.
With the World Cup so late on in the season, teams simply had to adapt with Postecoglou regularly rotating his side which hasn’t effected the rhythm of the team too much.
Many Celtic fans were left frustrated with the Champions League campaign, but it is important now that the squad aims to get back there as soon as possible which they can do by once again winning the league this season.
Soccer Football – Champions League – Group F – Real Madrid v Celtic – Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain – November 2, 2022 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglu and players applaud fans after the match REUTERS/Susana Vera
It could have been very easy for the players to have been caught up by their European matches but they have battled on and also booked a place in the semi-final of the Viaplay Sports Cup in January.
“We’ve had perfect league form in a period of real fixture congestions, including Europe. There won’t be many teams in Europe who have gone through that and had the results we’ve had,” said Ange Postecoglou as quoted by The Times.
“I’ve got no doubt that we can finish strong on Saturday. All the boys who have come through this will feel better about themselves for having come through it.
“Obviously we’ve got a strong squad but sometimes that makes it tough, too, because you bring players in and it changes things.
“It’s important for us as we continue to build and become a better side. The more we’re resilient through difficult times — they will always come, it’s never all going to be easy — that’s great.
“It was a bit of a grind tonight. We never really got into the rhythm we wanted. Credit to Motherwell. We didn’t start well and complicated things. We made the game difficult for ourselves.
9th November 2022; Fir Park, Motherwell, N Lanarkshire, Scotland, Scottish Premier league football, Motherwell versus Celtic: Daizen Maeda of Celtic celebrates after he makes it 2-0 to Celtic in the 84th minute
“They worked hard and disrupted us. When we’re playing well, we move the ball quickly and find simple solutions. We tired to be too cute, didn’t play the obvious pass. We didn’t control the game the way we wanted to.
“We could play better but a big part of this team is their character when we’re not at our best. Winning away from home in the Premiership is never easy.”
The 2-1 victory over Motherwell wasn’t the easiest of watches but these are games which win you leagues. Not every game will be perfect and all that really mattered was getting the important three points.
Celtic look like a team ready for the break so that they can press the refresh button and go again in late December.
