Peter Grant has lauded Ange Postecoglou for what he deems a “big change” in the Celtic squad in that the manager is able to make changes to the frontline whilst keeping the same tempo.
Postecoglou surprised everyone with his team selection at Livingston yesterday. He decided to throw in the likes of Tom Rogic, Nir Bitton, Anthony Ralston, and James Forrest out of nowhere. He also gave Daizen Maeda a start despite the game looking more like being suitable for Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Yet in the end, the 3 points were easily secured, and in fact came after an increase in tempo from what we saw against St Mirren on Wednesday night.
And Grant has been left wowed by the fact Ange is able to tinker with his frontline so much yet still get the same or a better level of intensity from them. Speaking on BBC Sportsound yesterday, Grant said: “The thing about this Celtic team and this Celtic squad is when James is not playing, Abada can come in. When Abada isn’t there then James can play. And I think the tempo of the team doesn’t drop and I think that was what James was touching on post-match.
“The front-line can mix and match now where as before I used to think if James had to come off or Tom Rogic had to come off then the team dropped. Now I think they’ve got some people who can come on and replace them and I think that’s the big change on this team.
“Everyone talks about squad players, but you want to be the one that’s in the squad and playing, and there’s no doubt that’s what’s pushing these players. Knowing they’re pushing each other and trying to push the team.”
Celtic boss understanding when to freshen things up even if supporters can’t see it
We take so much pride as supporters in understanding our football team and feeling as though we know what changes need to be made. For example, we all would’ve likely had Giakoumakis and Abada playing against Livi yesterday.
However, Ange is managing to see things that others just can’t. I have no doubt that if we played with the team selection many of us would’ve gone for, it would’ve been at least more of a struggle than the XI yesterday made it look.
And he’s managed to do it with a host of first-choice players not even starting. Josip Juranovic was sitting on the bench yesterday. Kyogo Furuhashi was still out as was David Turnbull. A host of changes were made to the team that beat St Mirren 2-0 yet still Ange managed to raise the tempo levels.
That’s extremely promising at this stage of the season. That even the manager can see things the supporters can’t. We certainly couldn’t say the same thing last term under Neil Lennon.
Finally, we know we can make substantial changes for domestic matches and still comfortably win the match. Last term, it genuinely felt as though we couldn’t afford to lose any of our top stars. If, for example, Moi Elyounoussi or Odsonne Edouard had to sit out or were sidelined, you worried that we weren’t picking anything up. That isn’t the case now.
And that we had the Livingston clash won by 55 minutes was even more heartening. Things are coming together at just the right time.
In other news, John Hartson outlines what Ange’s big Celtic goal will be in 2022/23
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