Ange Postecoglou did not exactly have his mind fixed on pushing cars out of the snow as he made his way to Lennoxtown. The Celtic boss only had thoughts trained fully on heaving his table-topping champions towards scaling even higher peaks.
But, when nature intervened to give the manager an eventful start to his day, it was just like his team on the park. Everyone sticking their hands on deck to overcome any adversity and get a result. Postecoglou set out for training yesterday morning to fine-tune preparations for today’s clash at Aberdeen to find, like everyone else in that region of Scotland, the elements had hit hard.
With the roads treacherous and an amber weather warning in place, the streets leading towards base camp were chaotic and the most unfortunate got stuck. Postecoglou was happy to join the volunteers who got out to assist those drivers in bother as he explained: “The weather was terrible and, to be fair, there was a young lady and a couple of nice young men who were out there helping another stranded motorist.
“I think I was there for motivation. I wouldn’t be any good chasing down anyone, but I just did my bit. It’s tricky driving in these conditions, so I was happy to help out.”
Life is never dull as a Celtic manager. Even so, this was an unexpected beginning to the day and he continued: “It’s not stuff I would have thought about it, no! If I did, I wouldn’t be running around in my Celtic tracksuit pushing cars around the place!
"That’s just life. We all live life. We are human beings and, if we can be kind to be one another, that makes the world a better place.”
With his part in the good deeds done and a journey to the training centre finally ended, Postecoglou was straight back into his own more-recognised style of driving. The driving that has seen his team develop into the country’s leading side and left the chasing pack in their sludgy spray.
Celtic have managed to plot their domestic course smoothly and at a rapid pace this term. Returning as defending champions, Postecoglou’s men have kept their foot firmly on the pedal and not slid onto the wrong track.
With 14 wins from their opening 15 matches in the top-flight, the team’s output would be enough to satisfy most managers. Not, however, Postecoglou. The Aussie wants more. Day on day, he’s assessing ways for Celtic to go up more gears.
To be clear, the manager has been pleased with what he’s seen so far this term. It’s just that the halfway sign has not yet even been passed on the title track and he is looking for his boys to go even faster.
Postecoglou said: “They key for us that, we’ve had a really strong start to the season, but we want to really now take it up another level and be really strong for the next bit. This is the important part of the season.
"We’ve had a good build-up to this game and most of the squad are up and ready and in good physical condition, so we’re looking forward to it. You have to [keep trying to get better].
"That’s my responsibility with these players. A lot of them are still in the early stages of their careers and there’s so much more in them. My role is to keep pushing them to reach their potential and, if we do that, we’ll get to where we want to as a team.
“But we are still very much a team in development. We are 18 months into creating this team and the way we want to play and there has to be better ahead. We must be looking to get stronger. That is our aim and our ambition and, irrespective of past form and past results, what is key for us is what is ahead.”
James McCarthy and Stephen Welsh won’t be available due to injury, but Postecoglou has everyone else, Josip Juranovic apart, firing and ready. The gaffer has confirmed that returned Qatar trio Cameron Carter-Vickers, Daizen Maeda and Aaron Mooy are all set for Pittodrie.
Postecoglou was delighted with their showings in the Middle East and said: “They are all great. We gave them a week off. All our players who didn’t go to the World Cup had a week off and the World Cup players who were there, once their country exited, they had a week off as well. All had a really positive experience there, they all contributed to their countries and made impacts which is great for us. They are all back to contribute here again.”
Postecoglou knows everyone will have to be on full throttle in the Granite City to get the desired outcome. The Aussie had two trips to the venue last term and, on each occasion, his team got through in close encounters thanks to a matchwinning goal from Jota.
Postecoglou said: “It’s a tough game at Aberdeen. We had two tough games there last year. We won both, but they were really tough. Their home form has been really good this year. At the same time, our away form has been really good, so it’s a good contest and challenge.”
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