Postecoglou thrilled with Celtic work rate
Ange Postecoglou praised the effort of his players to over-turn a 1-0 deficit in their 3-1 pre-season friendly win over EFL League One club Sheffield Wednesday.
The match, played behind closed doors, was Celtic's first under the newly-appointed Australian manager, who said he was impressed by his players' resilience after a tough training session the day before.
“The boys worked hard, we didn’t have a great start to the game, we took a while to get into it but we had a solid session yesterday and they probably felt that a little bit,” Postecoglou told Celtic TV. “We grew into the game, and to their credit for the better part of the first half and then the second we played some decent stuff and scored a couple of good goals and finished strong.
"You go a goal down, and we see a bit of spirit in the boys who weren’t prepared to accept that which is a positive sign.
“We’ve been working hard at training and part of it that we want to play a certain tempo for the whole game, we don’t drop off. I thought in the second half we maintained that and we got our rewards – with Albian and Moff scoring a good goal.
“Aside from that, I thought it was good for the young guys. With the start we had, it’d have been easy for them to go into their shells and not be as positive, but they reacted really well and that’s a good sign.”
Celtic field two different starting XIs across three 30-minute periods, although injured Socceroos star Tom Rogic missed the opportunity to reunited with his former national team coach.
“The strikers did a lot of work, not just scoring their goals but also off the ball as well," Postecoglou said. "We need our strikers to work hard and I thought that Albi and Odsonne worked really hard with our press. I think for both of them, scoring goals, which gives them that confidence."
Next up for Celtic is a clash with another League One club, Charlton Athletic, before matches against Bristol City and Preston, ahead of a crucial UEAF Champions League qualifying 1st leg at home to FC Midtjylland.
“We’ll see how everyone is for Saturday," Postecoglou said. "The lads who played today are the ones who’ve been with us from the start. We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t throw guys in too early.
"But, looking at the international boys and some of the others, they’ve come back in in good condition. I think they’ll play a part at the weekend.
“There’s nothing wrong with winning, particularly in the manner in which we did because we didn’t start well, we didn’t play well. And then you go a goal down, and we see a bit of spirit in the boys who weren’t prepared to accept that which is a positive sign.”
