Anthony Ralston insists Celtic’ s stars relish Ange Postecoglou’s fierce drive to push the club even higher.
The Parkhead boss is determined to make more improvements to maintain their position at the top of the Scottish game and also to make a bigger impact in the Champions League. Postecoglou is adamant that the club will be aggressive and agile in the transfer market as he keeps aiming to raise the standards.
The manager is pressing ahead with ambitious plans and Ralston and his team-mates will have to keep moving forward to keep pace. But the full-back is adamant that’s just what they want and the way it should be as he said: “When you are a club of this stature, you are always having to have your A game because there is always going to be someone else coming in, another person wanting to take your position. That’s part and parcel of not just here, but all football.
“You always want to be at the top of your game anyway. You don’t want any reason to drop your game off, so, yes, it’s extra motivation for everyone involved to stay in and that is the way it works.
“We don’t want to just compete domestically. We want to compete in Europe and we want to keep striving to the highest possible point and that is our aim.
“We don’t just want to be a team that is comfortable. We want to be kicking on and we need to do things that have not been done before. That’s our aim and we will continue to do that.”
Ralston, meanwhile, has reiterated his insistence that Celtic’s stars won’t let VAR disruption halt them. Postecoglou was deeply annoyed after the weekend win over Dundee United at the lengthy stoppages for decision-making and the impact it has on his team’s tempo.
The boss made similar comments following a win over Hearts at Tynecastle on the first weekend of domestic VAR. Ralston’s take that day was that the players would stay in the zone through delays and it was the same outlook relayed at the weekend.
He explained: “This is the game we are in now. It has been implemented and we need to deal with it. We focus on ourselves and we don’t try to let the outside noise affect us. The referees are going to make their decisions and that will be that. We just need to deal with it and, again, the boys did that.
“It was hard. Stop start. Especially the way we want to play. It’s quick and it’s intense. But this is what we are going to have to deal with.
“You need to stay focused at all times no matter what happens. Whether it is VAR, or a bad decision has gone your way, or whether it is the opposition slowing the game down. These are all factors in the game that we need to control mentally ourselves which we all do and we are used to now.”
Postecoglou was particularly miffed at a penalty award against Alexandro Bernabei when the ball struck his elbow as he faced the wrong way after jumping for a header. The perplexed manager said: “He had no idea that it hit his arm. He is not even’t looking at the ball and it’s a yellow card.
“It’s changing what we all knew to be the laws of the game. I don’t think that’s what VAR was for. They are re-refereeing the game, which is the one thing they said they wouldn’t do.”
Ralston hadn’t seen a replay of the incident when he spoke after the match, but once more stayed well out of any controversy. He said: “I’m not a referee. These are the decisions they have to make. It can be difficult. but, again, there is a very grey area there that does need to get fixed. But again, we won’t let the outside noise affect us.”
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