Juranovic transfer, Rangers v Celtic & more - Ange Postecoglou Q+A

What were your thoughts on the game?

The boys were great. Credit to them. We kinda knew or had a feeling that Hibs would come at us, early on especially. And credit to them because they did. The first 10 to 15 minutes were pretty frenetic and the crowd was up for it. I thought it was a good watch for the first 10, 15 but our boys held it really well. They got to grips with the game and after that, I just thought we dominated and scored some cracking goals and we could have had a couple more. It was just an outstanding effort by the players.”

Celtic have got momentum now, haven't they?

I don’t like the word momentum because it suggests we’re just rolling up and doing stuff. The boys are working awfully hard. We worked hard during the break. I think we’ve come back stronger than we finished. We’ve had four games and I think in all four we’ve got stronger in each game. From our perspective it’s all about the main target and the main aim which is to keep pushing how good we can be on a daily basis, pushing the guys and making sure they are well prepared for what’s ahead. And they are buying into that. There is no sense of them getting comfortable at any stage. They are consistently pushing themselves and each other to be the best they can be.

Can this team keep improving?

There is no reason why we can’t. We obviously started the season awfully well but I don’t think at any stage any of our performances suggested that we are happy with where we are at. When we’ve been winning, if the performances haven’t been there we work really hard in the areas where we know we can. I still think there is improvement in this team. A lot of these guys are at an age where their best football is ahead of them. My role and the coaches and everyone around them is to give them that platform to continually improve.

What can Celtic actually improve upon?

I’m not just throwing these words out there. You’re not going to win every game 4-0, sometimes you win games 1-0 or 2-0, but your performances can still be at the levels you want them to be. I mentioned after the Livingston game there were things we were not as willing to do as earlier in the year, and you can see over the last couple of games that the boys have rectified that. So, my role – irrespective of the results – is to keep pushing these boys, because I don’t know how good they can be. They don’t know how good they can be. Once you remove those limits, there’s always the possibility you can improve, you can get better, our movement the speed of our ball movement and all those things. We can always get better, and we’ll always strive to.”

Josip Juranovic to Chelsea what can you tell us about that?

I can say I’ve heard nothing about Josip Juranovic. Nothing’s happened. As I said a week or so ago, the speculation is what it is. What I know is we are in a really good space as a club. Going into January we have already strengthened and hopefully, we’ll strengthen further. I’m in no doubt by the end of January we’ll have a stronger squad than we did going into it.

Will you make changes for Rangers in the next game?

Team selection comes down to a multitude of things. We had some issues with players. David Turnbull was suspended, and Tony Ralston didn’t make it. Sead Haksabanovic has been carrying a bit of a foot injury. Then Jota gets a sickness bug and Jura has only just arrived back. What I’ve always tried to do is put the elven out there that gives us the best chance of success. There is no reason for James Forrest to miss out after his last performance. I just felt the speed of Liel and Daizen could maybe cause them problems. I’ll have a look at them in training in the next few days and make a decision from there.

How is Greg Taylor?

Hopefully he’s OK. Just a bit tight. But I thought Bernabei was brilliant when he came on. He gave us some real energy on the left-hand side.

Nine-point lead is that a psychological advantage for the Rangers game?

I don’t think so. We’ve been a fair way in front for a while now and if we were thinking about it that way you might have seen complacency creep in. It’s just not relevant to where we are, or the mindset of this team. Every game is an opportunity for us to go out and play our football and win and give some joy to our supporters. Whether you are nine points ahead or nine points behind, what does it matter? The next game is a massive game, a showcase game. It’s a big game for our supporters, for our club and for the league. We want to be a part of that. We’re going to Ibrox, a tough place to go. Who cares what the points tally is? What a game to be looking forward to. We’ll try and put on another strong performance and give our fans some joy.