Ange Postecoglou on Celtic developing a more ruthless streak, qualifying for the Europa League and transfer deals

The Australian's message to the Celtic faithful after back-to-back 6-0 victories at Paradise would appear to be 'you ain't seen nothing yet.

Postecoglou is well aware that in the next seven days he will be presented with the toughest tests of his short Celtic managerial reign so far.

First up is the Europa League play-off second leg against AZ Alkmaar to come on Thursday night with Celtic defending a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

That will be followed by Postecoglou's first experience and taste of Glasgow derby against Rangers at Ibrox next Sunday.

He and his Celtic players are certainly in no mood to rest on their laurels.

READ MORE: Paul Elliott on his love for Celtic, racism in football and partying in Victoria's with Rangers players - The Big Interview

Speaking on BBC Sport, Postecoglou said: "Right to the end, we were pushing. We want to be relentless in our pursuit of playing our football. Today was a good test of that.

"The squad is quite healthy considering the schedule we have. Hopefully, we get more reinforcements and, after the international break, we can build again."

If ever a statement summed up the way Celtic will continue to play under Postecoglou it was surely: "We want to be ruthless in our pursuit of playing our football." That will be music to the Celtic supporters' ears but it is also a warning shot to the rest of the Scottish Premiership that his team won't let up for 90 minutes. The scintillating style is here to stay and every side should be afraid, very afraid. This is what Ange predicted would happen from day one when he took the reins. During his first-ever training session when he was mic'd up the Aussie spoke thus: "We'll stop at half time and we'll stop at the end of the game when we celebrate. But during the game we don't stop". He was telling the players back then that they would develop a ruthless streak and Ange is now delivering on that promise. The prospect of Celtic getting any better is a fearsome one and it will strike fear  into many opponents. Meanwhile, Ange left this sentence in suspended animation: 'Hopefully, we get more reinforcements and after the international break, we can build again." This is another cute power play to gently nudge the board along and remind them that despite recent wonderful results his team are not the finished article just yet and with just over a week before the August transfer window slams shut he still feels there is much more business that can be done in order to improve the side.

When speaking to Celtic TV, Ange was asked the question if his players could continue to keep up the tempo despite such a gruelling and punishing schedule.

Postecoglou said: "The players put in a good work rate and a good work ethic and sometimes games like that can peter out but we were still going for it right up until the end.

"We haven't seen any evidence of that (tiring) yet and I have said all along that we can maintain this type of football and tempo throughout the season and you don't know how some players will react to it but at the moment the players are thriving.

"We are doing an awful lot of work and the staff is working off the field with their recoveries and making sure that the players are getting everything they need in between games because to be fair we are not training a lot and because of that we are feeling good going into games."

Clearly, there will be no let-up in terms of build-up and preparation for every match in order to keep the feel-good factor going. However, crucially the boss also spoke of the recovery aspect of football and shed some light on what his fellow members of staff are doing in terms of aiding the squad during work, rest and play. Ange offers a valuable insight here as he is saying that whilst his players will be super fit he is not worried about them in terms of burn-out because they are resting and recuperating when they need to and that he and his staff are not flogging them with punishing daily training schedules.

Perhaps more tellingly speaking on Sky Sports, Ange refused to be drawn on next Sunday's match-up against Rangers.

Postecoglou said: "I reckon after Thursday, I will get a million questions about that game (Rangers) and I just can't look beyond AZ at the moment. It is such a big game for us and our season as we want to be in the Europa League and we have got a good opportunity to do that. Whatever comes after that I'm sure there will be a great deal of focus on that game as everyone is excited about it. I'm pretty disciplined myself to make sure that the next fixture is the one I am looking at."

Ange here is working on the 'one game at a time' premise and the Celtic supporters will be absolutely delighted that his sole focus is on the AZ Alkmaar match and that he is not getting too far ahead of himself or carried away or distracted with anything to do with the Ibrox encounter. As he himself noted there will be plenty of time to address the Rangers game ahead of that clash. The Australian clearly knows the importance of qualifying for the Europa League. From where the club has come in the space of a short few weeks after crashing out of the Champions League it is bordering on a monumental and miraculous achievement for Celtic if they could see off the Dutch side and reach the Europa League. Although he did drop the smallest hint that he is human and the prospect of playing Rangers is one that will get juices flowing at the appropriate time: "I'm sure there will be a great deal of focus on that game as everyone is excited about it."

You don't say, Ange.

The Celtic boss though was much more open with the written press and covered a myriad of topics including new signings and a possible swap deal involving Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths and Hibs hitman Kevin Nisbet.

On that possibility, Ange said: "That is in the basket of uncertainty that I don't really dip my hand in.

"I am happy to talk about the ones we have done, I am really pleased to get Josip in.

"He is one we have been working in for a while, I think he is exactly the kind of player and person we want in our dressing room and I am sure he will help us.

"We will keep chipping away and hopefully get the ones we have been working on for a while now.

"I ain't quashing or denying or confirming.

“I was really happy to talk about Josip today because I'd been sitting on the fence with one, I don't like sitting on the fence."

Again Ange is stressing the need for more deals to be done ahead of August 31 but remained coy on who if any will be added to the squad at this late stage in the month. The phrase 'basket of uncertainty' is another very clever way of deploying the ball back over the net tactic to the Celtic board to see if they will make those calls. It is clear that Ange is a straight-shooter and as he admits himself he 'doesn't like sitting on the fence', so he will only talk about deals that have been concluded not ones that are pending or targets that Celtic are closing in on.

Ange also touched upon the ruthless nature of his team once again and insisted they won't rest until he gets his team playing the style of football he wants.

Postecoglou said: "You may say that I'm a little bit arrogant to say that we are going to improve after we won 6-0 but we are still at the beginnings of what we are trying to build.

"There is definitely going to be challenges along the way, what happens after days like today and the run we are on is that players get encouragement and they want more.

"It is my responsibility and the staff to keep pushing them to levels and that's what it is all about, not to be complacent or satisfied with where you are at."

The boss re-iterated that he is not being 'arrogant' and that Celtic are still a work in progress and miles away from where he sees them. He and his players and staff will be constantly striving for improvement. The phrase: "It is my responsibility and the staff to keep pushing him to levels and that's what it is all about, not to be complacent or satisfied with where you are at." How can you improve on back-to-back 6-0 wins. You win 7-0 - that is the manager's philosophy. That is the subtext here to what Ange is saying. He is telling everybody connected with the club, management team, players, supporters alike that there will always be room for improvement and that complacency will never creep in and that as a coach he will never be satisfied in their pursuit of perfection.

READ MORE: Stephen Welsh and the Celtic tactical switch that made defender's AZ performance even more impressive

Finally, Ange is well aware that Celtic have given themselves a wonderful opportunity to qualify for the Europa League group stages.

He revealed that the match against AZ Alkmaar could be pivotal to Celtic's season.

Postecoglou said: "You never know these things but we have given ourselves an opportunity.

"You go to into these big games with an opportunity to play our football and Thursday night is a great opportunity, not just in terms of the game but in terms of our season.

"We are disappointed we went out of the Champions League but we would love to play in the Europa League, this club.

"We would love to take on the biggest and best in Europe so it is a very important game for us.

"We go there with belief for sure."

The manager knows that Celtic was built on special European nights and he wants his fair share of that experience. Here Ange is actually setting his side their first target of the season and that is to cement their place in the Europa League group stage. He is not being hyperbolic by saying: "it is a great opportunity in terms of the game but in terms of our season". This is a gauntlet and a challenge being thrown down to his players and Ange wants to see how they cope with real pressure. He is also reassuring the Celtic supporters that if they qualify or not they will do it his way as it is after all an "opportunity to play our football."

Strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride on Thursday evening.