'Teams go to Celtic Park and take their medicine'
Scottish Premiership: St Johnstone v Celtic |
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Venue: McDiarmid Park, Perth Date: Sunday, 5 February Kick-off: 12:00 GMT |
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app |
Ange Postecoglou says "guaranteed football doesn't exist at top clubs" as he manages an enhanced Celtic squad.
Celtic brought in four new players in January, while only two departed.
The defending champions and Scottish Premiership leaders, who are nine points clear, visit St Johnstone on Sunday.
"Daily training here is as competitive as any game because of the levels of quality we have," said manager Postecoglou.
"I've got an ambitious group of players. Guaranteed football doesn't exist at top clubs. You're always competing for your spot. Nothing is long lasting, nothing is permanent.
"There's no doubt it had to be a rebuild [when I arrived in summer 2021] because we'd just lost a huge number of players. I felt like we needed to re-shape the team.
"I knew that I wasn't going to be given two or three years to do this, I had to do it straight away and try and be successful straight away. We were all working against the clock.
"We've shown that in just over 18 months, four transfer windows, we can be a pretty good side. With more work and more determination to improve, who knows what we can achieve."
One major contributor to Celtic's season so far has been Kyogo Furuhashi, who netted his 21st goal of the campaign in Wednesday's 3-0 win over Livingston.
The Japanese striker has largely kept Giorgos Giakoumakis out of the starting line-up and the Greece forward has been heavily linked with a move to Atlanta United, with Major League Soccer's transfer window open.
South Korea forward Oh Hyeon-gyu is now competing with Kyogo for the central striking role, though Postecoglou indicated Oh was not ready to start games.
And the Australian said of Kyogo: "There's no sign there that he needs a break. His work-rate is phenomenal. He's just been outstanding."
Meanwhile, Giakoumakis' future will "get concluded pretty soon", said Postecoglou.
"It's not on my radar," he added. "I don't expect him to be back in the group but it hasn't been finalised yet."
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