Ange Postecoglou says he won’t flog Celtic’s top stars like he did last season. The Parkhead gaffer admits he was forced to run Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and David Turnbull into the ground when he first arrived at the club.
That led to the trio picking up injuries which kept them out for prolonged periods of the Hoops’ title winning campaign. Postecoglou insists it was a priority for him this summer to ensure that didn’t happen again.
After strengthening his squad ahead of Celtic ’s Premiership defence and a crack at the Champions League, he believes he’ll be able to protect his top players more. He also reiterated his desire to add more new faces before the transfer window closes on August 31. Before today’s curtain raiser against Aberdeen, Postecoglou said: “It’s fair to say that the key goal of our recruitment - outside of signing Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota - was to fill the gaps in our squad that meant some players were overburdened, particularly in the first half of last season. We paid a price for that both individually and as a team.
“Kyogo, Turnbull, Jota, quite a few of them missed chunks of the season because we were forced to play them relentlessly. Hopefully with the recruiting we’ve done and the availability of a stronger core group of players, we can manage that load a lot better.
“Because once the midweek games start, particularly with the physical and mental toll of the Champions League, we are going to have more than 13 or 14 players ready for that battle. I definitely feel we are better placed to tackle that now.
“We are still active (in the transfer market). There’s still three or four weeks of the window to go and I’m sure there will be some comings and goings. There’s nothing specific at the moment but if there are areas we can improve in and the right person becomes available, we’ll move on it.”
Celtic are far better equipped for Postecoglou’s second season in charge than when he was appointed a year ago. They failed to win in four of their first six Premiership fixtures but Postecoglou is quick to point out that it didn’t prevent them from getting their hands on the title.
And he’s confident that the same, single-minded attitude can see them achieve success again this term. He said: “People go on about it but even with the pre-season we had, it didn’t stop us being champions.
“You only know whether you are ready when the games start. I’m sure everybody feels they have had a great pre-season and that every signing has been fantastic. But the real test is when the games start.
“We didn’t have most of the guys in at this point a year ago but we were creating an environment to make sure the boys didn’t make excuses. We were going to roll our sleeves up and whatever challenge came before us, we were going to overcome it.
“It’s the same this year. It’s the same mood, the same mindset. Of course, we are expecting this year to be a tough battle. But we know we have the capability within the group to overcome it.”
Postecoglou has revealed that new centre-back Moritz Jens is edging closer to full fitness, while Swedish defender Carl Starfelt is also nearing a comeback after injury. They’ll both miss today’s Premiership opener against Aberdeen, with Stephen Welsh set to deputise.
But the manager is confident that in a few weeks, when the calendar becomes congested, he’ll have everyone up to speed.He said: “Moritz is fine and Carl had his first session back on Friday.
“He’s had all the ticks from the medical staff so was able to join in but Sunday is obviously too early for him. We’ll have some sort of bounce game in the next 10 days but he’s not too far away from being selected.
“Moritz is close too. Physically, he’s in a good place but he just hasn’t had the game time.
“We’ll try to get bounce games for him and one or two others like Carl and Aaron Mooy to make sure they’re ready. For our first three weeks, we’ve only got one game a week, which means we can manage the group through.
“But once we get to the last week of August, it will be three games a week right through to the break. We want everybody up and ready for what is ahead. So we will try to compensate for the guys who have not had enough game time in pre-season.”
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