Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has been named Scottish Premiership manager of the month as his side sit top of the league following their emphatic win in the Old Firm clash with Rangers.
But the Australian still believes the Bhoys can improve greatly after their great start to 2022.
A remarkably one-sided first half at Parkhead on Wednesday saw Celtic storm into a 3-0 lead through a Reo Hatate double and a goal from Liel Abada – and it would have been even more emphatic had Gers keeper Allan McGregor not been in top form.
The victory leapfrogged Celtic one point ahead of the champions at the top of the Premiership.
And after picking up his second manager of the month award on Friday, Postecoglou revealed a philosophy that made it clear why he’ll never be satisfied.
“We go into every game, saying to the boys, ‘okay, the main objective will be to play our best game of the season today – let’s play better than we have played so far’,” he said.
“So you are not thinking about how we played in the last game, that it was good and we want to repeat that.
“We don’t want to repeat that – we want to improve on that.
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou celebrates at full time. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
“Matt O’Riley is three games into his Celtic career, Reo Hatate, Giorgos Giakoumakis, most of these guys are at the beginning of a new cycle, a new way of playing, so there has to be improvement.
“We have to improve, absolutely. If we want to be a team we want to be, even for this year, if we want to be successful, we have to be better than we were the other night.”
Ahead of the trip to Motherwell on Sunday, the former Australia boss stressed there was still a long way to go in the title race.
He said: “We were delighted to win but pretty soon after the game the players went into recovery mode and got ready for the next challenge.
“The end goal was never to be on top in February, the end goal was to be on top when it counts.
“All Wednesday night did was push us a little bit close towards that goal but we are not there yet.”
The good news for Postecoglou is that he has his Socceroo magician Tom Rogic “back and ready to play” against Motherwell.
The Australia midfielder missed the Hoops’ matches against Hearts, Dundee United and Rangers due to international duty, where he played against Vietnam and Oman.
Asked if Rogic would get a break, Postecoglou said: “We don’t do breaks during the year, he will get a break at the end of the year like everyone else.
“He’s back and ready to play.”
© AAP
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