We’ve just about gone through all of the biggest positives from yesterday’s 7-0 mauling of Wiener Viktoria, but we’ve yet to really discuss perhaps the best of the lot.
That being the fact that it’s early July and Ange Postecoglou’s footballing identity at Celtic was already in full show on match day 1.
It doesn’t matter how long a manager has been in place. Even under Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon in recent years, there were always major hitches in pre-season as performances were lacklustre and took a while to build up.
Yes, we were up against a low-quality outfit yesterday in the Austrian 3rd division club, but that has nothing to do with Celtic expressing what they’re all about.
Ange as we know wants his Celtic to be relentless and a team that simply doesn’t stop. He doesn’t want players giving half-baked performances when the pressure is off or taking the foot off the accelerator the more goals we score.
And yesterday, Ange’s vision for the club’s identity was on clear show. Celtic were 6-0 ahead by the break and constantly looking to break through Wiener whenever possible. Whether it be down the flanks or using quick, incisive passing through the middle, Celtic were in no mood to show any sympathy.
Celtic starting new season with an incredibly strong foundation
What’s so important about a club’s identity is that you are able to change players around and still see that same vision. That’s what we got in our first pre-season game yesterday. By full-time it was close to being a youth squad, yet still they were champing at the bit and looking to win the ball back within seconds of losing it.
The intensity was impressively high for what was, in truth, a modest occasion. Sure, different players have different levels of quality, but we still saw what Ange wants this team to be all about in spades throughout the 90 minutes. Typified by Yosuke Ideguchi in particular who constantly looked to shut down the opposition in the closing stages.
Some may point to only netting one goal in the second half as proof we dropped off. But the truth is by that stage it was a glorified youth team we had out, and they were all still doing the hard yards as time ticked away and didn’t shirk a thing.
That never stop identity was in full flow. To have that in place in early July is absolutely fantastic for supporters and bodes well for the season ahead. It shows that all players are buying into this project.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such a clear vision for the club on show in the first pre-season match. That has to be the biggest positive we take from yesterday’s game.
In other news, Ange responds to Wiener Viktoria’s classy Celtic gesture yesterday
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