Ange Postecoglou has opened up on what he told the Celtic players at half-time that ended up totally killing off Livingston yesterday.
The Hoops went in at the break 1-0 ahead and cruising nicely at the Tony Macaroni Arena. But Ange’s men would then step it up a couple of notches in the second 45 with an immediate surge in energy that led to us scoring 2 more in the first 10 minutes to end the occasion as a contest.
Indeed, an own-goal from Nicky Devlin and a James Forrest strike ended things against the Lions in convincing fashion. And even though the West Lothian side pulled a quick goal back, it never felt as though they truly got back into the match after that whirlwind start from the Hoops.
And as he spoke to Celtic’s official in-house media post-match, Ange stated that the fast start came from a key message he sent to the players:
“We spoke at half-time about how we had a really strong first half, so let’s get at them right from the beginning so that they see we’re not going to take our foot off the pedal, so it was great to see.
“I thought we really were good during that period, obviously they scored their goal from a throw-in, a set-piece that they’re obviously a threat from. But even aside from that, I thought we managed the game really well.”
Celtic stepped up the intensity levels and Livingston were simply swept away
That’s one of the things we’ve seriously struggled to do at Livingston over the years. Going there and being assertive from the first whistle has been tricky. The same goes for coming out in the second half and trying to put them to the sword in quick fashion.
In recent years, Celtic simply haven’t had the quality on the day to do that. We’ve struggled badly there, with all sorts of excuses flying around from the pitch to the way Livingston set up against us.
But it was clear that, as a club, the Hoops were in no mood for excuses yesterday. Ange knew that the game had to end in a Celtic victory. And it’s great to see he backed up his principles by going in for the kill early.
We know how threatening Livi can be as games against them wear on. They’ve always been a side capable of landing an unsuspecting blow on you out of nowhere. Take their goal at the weekend for example. Even if it was a consolation, it still came out of nowhere and ruined our prospects of a clean sheet.
By looking to put the game beyond doubt early on it meant that there was nothing Livingston could do as things the minutes trickled away. They never were going to have the quality to score 2 or 3 on the day. That much was evident early on. Ange will have sensed that too, and that’s likely why there was such a strong emphasis on getting the job done ASAP.
Hopefully, it’s something we can take into future games too. Celtic Park will certainly be a lot more relaxed if we play at that tempo against Ross County in 2 weeks.
In other news, Video: Travelling Celtic supporters come up with class new Anthony Ralston song
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