Ange has watched on with admiration as O’Neill has dragged the erratic champions back into the mix
Ange Postecoglou and Martin ONeill
Impressed Ange Postecoglou hailed Martin O’Neill as “one in a million” and insisted the Irishman’s stature within the dressing room has the champions right in the mix for trophies.
The former Parkhead boss – who won five trophies in two wildly-successful seasons in Glasgow before joining Tottenham – has watched on with admiration as the 74-year-old has dragged the erratic champions back into the mix to win a 14th Premiership title in the past 15 seasons.
Postecoglou was blown away by his personal interactions with O’Neill and he believes the veteran manager’s aura will impact the Celtic dressing room during a nerve-shredding fight for the title alongside Rangers and Hearts.
Speaking at UEFA Pro Licence Student Exchange, Postecoglou said: “Martin is one in a million. I was fortunate enough to bump into him a few times when I was up there and he was always very, very respectful towards me. What a man! What a great storyteller.
“I’m sure he’s one of those guys who has a dressing room full of players that don’t want to let him down. There have been a couple of different moments where you have seen that this season. He’s got them into position again where they can have success.”
Meanwhile, an emboldened Postecoglou reckons he’s cracked the methods which can nullify sides which have moved to a more direct style of play.
Former North London rivals Arsenal have been derided in some quarters for their industrial way of playing, now the 60-year-old reckons he can combat clubs who are making the beautiful game a challenging watch.
He added: “The Premier League now is going through a cycle where it is very hard to gain momentum and fluency in a game because of stoppages,” he says. “Some natural, some artificial, whether it’s technology or set pieces.”
“We enjoy all different cuisines; when we go out to a restaurant, we don’t just eat Japanese every night, because you’d get sick of it. That’s what each manager can bring. You can bring your own football, or vision.”
Postecoglou won the treble with Celtic during his second and final season in charge
“The Premier League has been gradually coming to a space over the past couple of years where it is very, very structured and hard to gain momentum. The sort of rock’n’roll or heavy metal football of Jürgen [Klopp] today is almost impossible to do because of how many stoppages there are in the game. But somebody clever enough will come along and say, ‘I’ll show you how to break through.’”
“I love football that’s fast-paced, that creates chances and scores goals and is played a certain way,” he says. “If I fail to deliver that, then that’s on me, not on the other teams to allow me to do that. [So] yeah, I think there’s ways to break through that.“
“There are ways you can minimise the disruption in games when you have control of the game, ways you can maintain momentum while the opposition are trying to suck it out. It’s not a fully formed plan yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out.”
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