Celtic defender Osaze Urhoghide has stated that Ange Postecoglou’s mentality is different to any other manager he’s worked with in the past.
Urhoghide was signed in the summer as one of Postecoglou’s first-ever signings. However, after settling into life in Glasgow during the first half of the campaign, he’s been shipped out on loan to KV Oostende in Belgium.
The Dutch youngster was handed his Celtic debut by Ange back in December in an impressive display against Real Betis during a dead-rubber Europa League clash. So even though he’s away for the second half of the season, the defender has certainly been working closely with the Greek-Australian since his arrival.
And as he spoke about fighting for his long-term Parkhead future, Urhoghide also decided to talk up what it is that’s different about Ange compared to his previous bosses. As quoted by the Daily Record, Osaze said: “Ange’s mentality is completely different to every other manager that I’ve worked with. He wants to play a certain way no matter who we’re playing against whether it’s a European giant or a smaller team. That’s what I really like about him.
“We had a lot of difficulties at the start of the season as a team but as the season has progressed everyone has began to understand Ange’s style of play and we can see just now that it’s paying off.
“We started slowly in the league at the start of the season and lost our first game. People quickly began to question whether or not his style of football was going to work but he told us all to trust the process and stick with it and you can now see that it’s working as we’re flying at the moment.”
Ange Postecoglou won’t change his style for anyone; and it’s led to a rollercoaster campaign so far
The one thing we all know that Urhoghide mentioned here is that Ange just won’t modify his style to suit the opposition. Instead, he appears to be a firm believer of making the opposition change to combat us.
It doesn’t always work. That’s what’s led to this season being a total rollercoaster of emotions, with more highs than lows it must be said. From the 4-0 home embarrassment to Bayer Leverkusen to the 3-0 mauling of Rangers at Celtic Park. From the disappointing 4-3 loss in Real Betis to the 3-2 ding-dong success at Parkhead.
It also has to be said that Ange’s beliefs have already led us to the Premier Sports Cup. It’s already taken us to the top of the Premiership where we lead Rangers by a point. In short – it’s led us to a level of progress totally unimaginable back in July/August.
Oh there are still plenty of chinks in the armour. Bodo/Glimt showed that up on Thursday night. We’re still a long way from where the manager wants us to be. But in fairness, that’s always something Postecoglou has maintained [Football Scotland].
There’s a lot of work ahead. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be competing for titles and trophies in the meantime. Our expectations has to be beyond the realms of Scottish football. Winning the league won’t instantly make us the team Ange wants us to be. That’s something that should only add further excitement to the Celtic supporters.
It’s no wonder so many of his players big up the work he’s done so far. There’s clearly a huge respect for the manager within the dressing room.
In other news, “My gut tells me”; Celtic boss appears to have pinpointed what went wrong on Thursday
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