Bodo/Glimt sporting director Aasmund Bjorkan has stated that he’s yet to see a team more fitter or better organised than his ahead of Thursday’s game against Celtic.
The Hoops will tackle the Norwegian champions this week in the Europa Conference League last-32. Ange Postecoglou’s men will be looking to take advantage of the fact Bodo’s season has yet to even begin.
The Norwegians have been preparing for the contest with an intense training camp in Spain. Celtic, meanwhile, have been in the middle of a hectic run of games with many of their top stars operating at peak fitness levels.
But Bjorkan has been getting boastful in the run-up to Thursday’s clash as he bigged up the job his manager is doing. As quoted by Football Scotland, he said: “I haven’t met a team that are as organised as us. Or any team who have been fitter than us. When you understand where our players are coming from, players who have been written off because they’re ‘not good enough’, the way Kjetil works with the players is amazing.
“I don’t think another coach in the world could have done what he’s done here along with his coaching staff. He is very focused and is the leader. I’m actually surprised more clubs haven’t seen it. The job Kjetil has done at Bodo/Glimt has been absolutely fantastic. It’s a city of 50,000 people and every year we lose two or three of our best players.
“The secret in our club is every day training sessions, they’re fantastic. High-intensity, high demanding challenges every day so they love going to training. We’ve installed a culture within the club where everyone is well prepared and ready to give 100 percent every day.”
Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic will test Bodo/Glimt’s fitness boasts
Interesting to hear the extremely high opinion their sporting director has of their fitness and organisation levels. Granted, he has to be positive about things, that’s pretty standard. But he’s made some pretty big claims there in never having seen a fitter team or a better organised one.
Dangerous words considering they’re coming up against a manager so fixated on high intensity football, their fitness levels are certainly going to be tested. Especially at this stage of their season with their league campaign having yet to even kick-off.
Ange Postecoglou has clearly been prioritising Thursday night too. He kept a host of first-team players either on the bench or out of the squad for yesterday’s 4-0 victory over Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup. Whilst the likes of Jota, Liel Abada, and Daizen Maeda did indeed feature, their cameos were only really brief.
It’ll be interesting to see how Celtic approach this contest against the Norwegians too. With the away goal rule abolished, it suits Postecoglou’s all-out attack approach. a goal for Bodo won’t be as damaging as it would’ve been last season, for example.
So our European foes can expect wave after wave of attack from Postecoglou’s Hoops. Not something they’ll likely be too excited about given they’re in the middle of rebuilding their own squad.
It’s a good thing that they’re the fittest and most organised side going then. They’re certainly going to need those traits to avoid a nasty result at Parkhead. It’s certainly all to play for this week before next week’s return leg in Norway.
In other news, Vincent Kompany wanted Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou at Anderlecht, says Craig Bellamy
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