Ferencvaros manager Peter Stoger has admitted that he loves the style Celtic play under Ange Postecoglou.
Stoger is set to clash heads with the Hoops boss at Parkhead tomorrow. Celtic will play host to the Hungarian outfit on matchday 3 of the Europa League. Nothing less than a win will suffice as we look to get our group stage campaign up and running.
The Bhoys have come under criticism this season for being a soft touch defensively. However, going forward, Celtic have looked imperious at times under a manager who’s putting relentless, high-press football at the forefront of his Parkhead priorities.
And former Borussia Dortmund coach Stoger, who also won the Austrian Bundesliga with Austria Wien, has opened up on his admiration for Postecoglou’s style of football.
As quoted by Hungarian outlet Nemzeti Sport, Stoger said: “As a coach, I’ve never been here before! I played football several times in Scotland as a player, but I am not a child today, I do not remember the meetings at that time, do not ask me to discuss goals, assists!
“I am sure that there will be a great atmosphere in the stadium. I like the style of what Celtic represents. They’re a team that like to attack, to break forward on the wings and in the middle, but everyone has some weaknesses. We did not disappoint in our two matches so far, I hope we do not do it now.
“These two matches will be important, we are facing fateful meetings. The only two teams without points meet. Anyone who gets out of these (without points) will obviously not have a chance to enter the field in February.”
Peter Stoger may “love” Cetic style, but the gloves will be off tomorrow
Not surprising this, is it? The usual pre-match flattery that gets blurted out before every European game has reared its head once again. This time we have Stoger bigging up the way Celtic play.
But make no mistake, he’ll have identified the weaknesses, or at least what he perceives to be weaknesses. He’ll have a plan that he’ll hope will cut right through Celtic’s system and leave us KO’d come 5:30pm tomorrow night.
It goes both ways of course. Postecoglou will certainly have had Ferencvaros watched on numerous occasions. Given their start in the Europa League this season, there will definitely be areas Celtic will have the quality to exploit tomorrow afternoon.
A win and the pressure is all on the Hungarians heading into matchday 4 in two weeks’ time. Celtic know the importance of coming out of this double-header with maximum points if possible. It would hopefully set up a mouth-watering clash against Bayer Leverkusen on matchday 5.
It’s a long journey to qualification, but it needs to start tomorrow. Celtic have both the players and the manager to pull it off. Not to mention we have an attacking philosophy that should see us be able to dominate much of the contest.
But as attractive as it is, Stoger will be ready to exploit us where we can. It’s how we react to his plans that will determine whether we bag a routine win tomorrow or not.
In other news, The Celtic supporters are now asking serious questions of the James McCarthy situation
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
