Today’s Celtic victory against Livingston wasn’t just three points, it was a massive morale boost to players, coaching staff and supporters heading into the final eight games of the Scottish Premiership.
And yet, things may be about to get even better for everyone at the Bhoys and Ange Postecoglou has already laid out the reasons why.
Celtic have been contending with a brutal fixture schedule all season long, playing mid-week to weekend football for long portions of the season. It’s taken a toll on the players, especially since they deploy Ange’s high-tempo style every single match.
Now the manager thinks extra time on the training pitch and more time in between matches could be perfect for his squad in the final stage of the season.
Speaking to The Sunday Mail ahead of today’s win, Postecoglou said: “I hope we’re on track to be strong for this part of the season, that’s the plan. After Livingston, we’ve got eight days until we play in the Scottish Cup. That will be the first free midweek we’ve had for a while.
“That means we can rest some of the players and put some work into others. Then it’s another week until we play Ross County before the international break. That’s a good period of time for us to do some work.
“The positive thing for us is that the lads we got in January have performed right away. That has allowed me to rotate the side, which means we haven’t overburned any players.
“We haven’t had the level of injuries we had in the first half of the season. So I’m hoping we got to the international break with a fully fit, healthy squad. That will help us be at our strongest for the most important part of the year.”
The manager also spoke in his press conference Friday that not only will they get to do more work on the training ground, but also spend more time with analysts and doing video reviews.
It all sounds really productive. Far from being a rest until Dundee United, Ange is going to use this time to hone in on what Celtic are doing well.
The fresh legs will help too, undoubtedly, as our rivals have to contend with as busy a schedule as ever due to Europe. We’d rather still be in all our tournaments, but this is a solid silver lining.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou hails Celtic player who is standing out in Lennoxtown training.
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