Josip Juranovic admits he’d be happy to play a game every day if it meant more success for Celtic.
And the Croatian ace is adamant there will be no let up from Ange Postecoglou ’s troops as they enthusiastically plough through their relentless schedule at home and in Europe. Postecoglou’s team head for Motherwell in the Premier Sports Cup as they approach the halfway point of a current 13-matches-in-43 days spell prior to the World Cup.
It’s one of nine outings in October alone, but Juranovic loves being in the thick of it.The international defender says it’s just where he wants to be and that there’s no easing off in training as they push on with pace. Juranovic explained: “It’s a busy schedule, but I said before that I’d always rather play a game every day than have a training session. That’s part of our life now. That’s our job. We are doing our jobs so we can bring trophies home.
“We want to be that like last year, maybe even better to show who we are, how we play. You have 60,000 people outside cheering for you at a game, so you have a chance to bring happiness to their faces.
“Despite the fact that it’s a really busy period, we are all enjoying it. We are still doing tough training sessions. “It’s because of the fact we don’t stop until the final whistle sounds. It’s business as usual.”
Of course, Postecoglou is making changes and switches within his team to try and limit any tiredness from creeping into the group. Juranovic was amongst those who spent last weekend’s win over Hibs watching from the subs bench as Anthony Ralston deputised with aplomb.
The Croat said: “You could see on Saturday that we have real depth in the squad. A lot of players have been waiting for their opportunity and I think we have shown that whoever is playing we can damage the other team. That’s the most important thing.
“No matter what changes the manager makes, we are all very comfortable playing with each other. We all know what each player is doing. We are just like a really big family here.
“We know what the wingers will do, we know what the full-backs will do. So we know our plan, we listen to the coach and we carry it out.”
On the opposite side, Greg Taylor was also afforded some rest-time as Alexandro Bernabei started a second-straight Premiership clash. Just as against St Johnstone seven days previously, the young Argentine performed with style and impressed.
Juranovic said: “I’m trying to give him advice about settling in and our style of play but he doesn’t know English very well. But you can see that he’s played a few games and is now doing very well. He made an assist on Saturday and that’s the most important thing.
“He’s doing well away from the pitch also. He’s a great person and I know that we will see more good stuff from him this season.”
Juranovic knows there are big demands on full-backs placed into Postecoglou’s system, but he continued: “It’s difficult because it’s all about going inside and outside, talking with our No 6. But it’s because of those demands that we are at Celtic. We want to achieve everything and we will do that.”
Naturally, despite the allure of the Champions League group stages and the crucial nature of the title race, there is also a strong importance placed upon the Premier Sports Cup in terms of Postecoglou’s group after they won it last term.
Juranovic said: “If we hadn’t won it last year, we could still have had a belief to pay even stronger. But, when we won it, we took the confidence from it and we showed everybody who we are. It’s a cup game so we just need to go 100 per cent from the first minute until the last.”
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