ANGE POSTECOGLOU insists Celtic’s displays have been “getting stronger every week” since kicking off the season with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen on Flag Day at Parkhead at the end of July.
Now the manager has Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Ibrox outfit in his sights at Parkhead tomorrow afternoon as he aims for a seventh successive triumph in a pacesetting start to the new crusade.
The champions go into the derby in the knowledge that a victory will push them five points ahead of their nearest challengers so early in the campaign.
SIGNS ARE GOOD…Oliver Abildgaard points the way after agreeing a season-long loan last night.
Postecoglou is satisfied with his wheeling and dealing in the transfer market that saw Danish international midfielder Oliver Abildgaard become his ninth signing just before last night’s deadline.
The new Bhoy, who agreed a season-long loan from Russian club Rubin Kazan, is likely to watch the action from the stand on this occasion while he still settles into life at the club.
The Greek-Australian gaffer said: “I’m pleased to get Oliver over the line. Obviously, it happened late in the piece, we had some moving parts in terms of just making sure with opportunities for guys elsewhere, I was just mindful of in terms of squad numbers.
“I had a clear idea of what I wanted to work with and things came together and we were able to get Oliver in the last bit of business for us.
“It’s great to get him in, he’s a player who is a little bit different to what we’ve got here in terms of his attributes.
CELTIC VIEWS…gaffer Ange Postecoglou spells it out with two massive games ahead in the Premiership and Champions League.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to about him from a coaching perspective says he’s an outstanding person as well as an experienced and good player.
“I think he’ll fit in well with us. It just rounds off our squad, coming out of the window now we’ve got a squad that I think is strong enough now to be able to compete on the fronts we need to.”
The next four days will be massive for the club with European king pins Real Madrid due in the east end of Glasgow for the first game in Champions League Group F on Tuesday night.
Postecoglou, speaking about the mounting excitement to Celtic TV, continued: “It’s not unusual for this place. To be fair, there are always big games when you’re involved in this football club.
“From our perspective we’ve been planning for what’s ahead, not just this week, with the schedule we’ve got we’re obviously competing on a number of fronts, but we’re ready to go.
HAT-TRICK HEROES…Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada with the matchballs following their three-goal blasts in the 9-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice last weekend.
“Our players have been really good throughout this early period in navigating the fixtures and also our training schedule to make sure we’re ready for what’s ahead.
“We’re looking forward to it and obviously it’s important to focus on the next challenge and the next challenge for us is tomorrow.”
The Hoops chief added: “We’ve grown into the season. We obviously knew it was a bit of a different start for us with one game a week, but I think our performances have been getting stronger every week – and that’s what we’re looking for tomorrow.
“Improvement in our performance, improvement in the way we do things and play our football, and to overcome whatever challenge we have tomorrow and then, that gets you three points and you move on to the next challenge.
“But, from our perspective, the incentive is just to keep performing at the levels we have and keep improving on them.”
