Gavin Strachan earns Celtic acclaim as Ange Postecoglou salutes Parkhead 'evolution'

Ange Postecoglou is renowned for sticking to what he believes in. It’s the Celtic manager’s MO.

He came to Glasgow with an idea of how he wanted his team to play and has never veered from it. The Parkhead gaffer recoils at the thought of ditching his principles. But with the Champions League group stage draw coming up on Thursday, age-old questions will rear their head again. Can Celtic play the same cavalier style against Europe’s big boys, the attacking football they produce every week in the Premiership?

Can Postecoglou’s side really go for the throats of Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG or Real Madrid? And if they do, will they simply be picked off at will and end up with a bloody nose? The same applied to Brendan Rodgers when he was in the Celtic hotseat. Like Postecoglou, he couldn’t go against his beliefs. Domestically, it got them unparalleled success. And in the Champions League, who will forget the electric performance against Pep Guardiola’s City in a 3-3 draw at Celtic Park? Or scudding Anderlecht 3-0 away from home?

But the flip side to that was 7-0 and 7-1 hammerings at the hands of PSG and Barcelona respectively, as well as a 3-0 mauling in Munich. A few weeks ago, Hoops midfielder Matt O’Riley revealed that Postecoglou had started working on ideas for coming up against Europe’s elite.

So will we see a change in approach, depending on who comes out of the hat with the Scottish champions this week? Postecoglou accepts there might have to be tweaks against the world’s best sides. But change to a more defensive style? Not on his watch.

The manager said: “We try to train every day as if we’re preparing to play against the best. That’s part of the reason for our transfer business this summer – to have a