The brilliant Ange Postecoglou moment last night that highlights Celtic mentality change

By David Walton

August 19, 2021

Last night, there was one particular Ange Postecoglou instruction that highlighted the mentality he’s desperately trying to bring to Celtic Park.

Sure, the 2-0 win over AZ Alkmaar last night was magical. And what decision did Postecoglou make that didn’t work out, right?

But what was absolutely tremendous for the Celtic fans to see was something that was barked out after the game had more or less been won.

Celtic had a free-kick just outside the penalty area down the left flank. Odsonne Edouard went over to it with just a couple of minutes to go and looked to play it safe. That’s something we saw from Celtic regularly under Neil Lennon.

But Postecoglou was having none of it. The Celtic TV cameras managed to catch him yelling at his players to get the ball into the box. He didn’t want the short free-kick to be taken. No demand to play the short ball and try to keep it away from the opposition.

Ange Postecoglou wants Celtic mentality to be goal-orientated

It was brilliant to see the manager look to throw caution to the wind like that. It backs up his message that his teams must always look for goals until the end. That they never stop even when winning in added time.

Cynics will say this goes against game-management protocols. After all, how are you managing a game if all you’re pushing men forward whilst the opposition are desperately trying to get back into the game?

Very simply. Seldom do you see players manage to keep the ball in the corner for any longer than 10-20 seconds. Eventually they’ll lose out, whether it be a throw-in given away or just straight up being dispossessed.

It makes much more sense to put a good delivery into the penalty area. If the opposition clear it, there’s a good chance it goes to one of your defensive players outside the penalty box and you can build again. All of a sudden you have sustained pressure on the opposition and are killing the clock more efficiently than playing the ball into the corner flag does.

It was a brilliant moment for Celtic fans watching online to witness. And let’s just say fans haven’t allowed the moment to go past without hailing it on Twitter. Here’s a look at the reaction on social media to the class instruction:

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