ANGE POSTECOGLOU has reassured Celtic fans neither he nor his players will suffer from burn-out after a frantic period if five games in 13 days in three different competitions.
It’s speaks volumes for the energy levels of the manager and his squad that they have won all of the games starting with a 4-2 victory in the Europa League qualifier over Jablonec in the Czech Republic which was quickly followed by the 6-0 Premiership romp over Dundee.
A double from David Turnbull and a single from James Forrest gave the Hoops a 3-0 success in the return against the Czechs which preceded the 3-2 triumph over Hearts in the League Cup opener in Glasgow.
The dangerous Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar were taken care of 2-0 with strikes from Kyogo Furuhashi and a deflected effort from Forrest and the Parkhead men step onto the European tightrope against in the Netherlands on Thursday night just three days before their visit to Ibrox.
It’s been a whirlwind of activity for the Greek-Australian who will prepare his team for the visit of St Mirren to the east end of Glasgow this afternoon with another three precious points at stakes.
However, Postecoglou insists he is coping well with the stress and reassured: “I’m all right mate, I don’t run around at all. I just sit down and do what I do.
“I’m enjoying it. I’ve been through these periods before when, as a manager, you feel like you’re not doing a lot of training, so you can’t get out there and work with the players.
“You have to find other ways to get information across and rely on other people to get the players back up in terms of recovery.
“I’ve still got bags of energy – so there are no problems there. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”
This afternoon will see Celtic play their fifth consecutive encounter at Parkhead and Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “Any club will tell you having home games is an advantage.
“For us, it’s coincided with our fans being back in the stadium and it’s worked out really well for us.
“It’s easy to say that now, but with having fans back in, if we didn’t start well it maybe wouldn’t have been as pleasant to play in games at the moment.
“But because the players have really started well and the team is playing well the fans are enjoying the football. It’s great to have this run of home games where we can just build some momentum.
“We’re going to hit the road after this game and that will provide a different kind of challenge.
“But it’s certainly been helpful to have this run of home games and helpful for us to have our supporters behind us.”
Ryan Christie, who has missed the last three outings with a bruised foot, could return against the Paisley Saints today while James McCarthy, a second-half substitute in the matches against Hearts and AZ Alkmaar, is pushing for his first start.
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