Ange Postecoglou declared Celtic “in a good place” after they rounded off their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 friendly win over Norwich at Parkhead on Saturday.
Daizen Maeda and David Turnbull scored as the Hoops notched a morale-boosting result ahead of their cinch Premiership opener at home to Aberdeen next Sunday.
Postecoglou, who gave new signings Aaron Mooy and Moritz Jenz their first outings off the bench, was pleased with the victory after back-to-back 2-2 draws against Blackburn and Legia Warsaw.
🗣 "For the most part we controlled the game – we worked hard defensively to not allow them too much."— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 23, 2022
“I think the victory is important as well (as the run-out),” he told Celtic TV. “I thought it was a real solid hit-out. For the most part we controlled the game and our possession was good.
“We worked hard as well defensively to deny them too much and it was good to see after those substitutions we didn’t see too much of a drop-off. The boys stuck to the job so I think it was a useful hit-out.”
Postecoglou is relishing a full week to prepare for the season opener against the Dons.
“We’ll have another solid week of working on the training track, a good eight days because the game is on Sunday so the boys will have a good block of work on our game and our physical stuff,” he said.
“We’ve had a decent pre-season campaign in that every game has been fairly competitive and for the most part we’ve got through it unscathed in terms of avoiding injuries or any setbacks. We’re in a good place.”
Postecoglou oversaw a significant rebuild over the course of last season, with several players being integrated after the campaign had kicked off. The manager is pleased that this summer has been far more settled and that he has been able to have a proper pre-season with the bulk of his squad already in place.
“All our players have enjoyed the fact they have had a pre-season with us,” he said. “We threw a lot of these guys in last season and they did super-well but my belief is that they can be a lot better.
“That’s why we were really keen to retain the players we had last season and build on that. There are quite a few guys who have enjoyed working hard together as a group to be ready for the season.”
