Ange confident that he can solve Celtic’s injury curse

Ange Postecoglou is hoping that his increased squad can cure Celtic’s hamstring curse. 

In autumn Tom Rogic and Carl Starfelt were out for a month with the dreaded injury but much worse was to follow in December as Jota, Albian Ajeti, David Turnbull and Kyogo Furuhashi filled up the treatment room at the same time. 

It seemed that someone was going down in almost every game but after bringing in four new signings in January there was barely a hamstring injury in the second half of the season. 

Inheriting a squad that was decimate in terms of quality and numbers required some quick thinking in the transfer market but with further enforcements this summer Postecoglou is hoping that his injury problems are drastically reduced in the season ahead. 

The Celtic boss told the Daily Record: 

It’s fair to say that the key goal of our recruitment – outside of signing Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota – was to fill the gaps in our squad that meant some players were overburdened, particularly in the first half of last season. We paid a price for that both individually and as a team. 

Kyogo, Turnbull, Jota, quite a few of them missed chunks of the season because we were forced to play them relentlessly. Hopefully with the recruiting we’ve done and the availability of a stronger core group of players, we can manage that load a lot better. 

Because once the midweek games start, particularly with the physical and mental toll of the Champions League, we are going to have more than 13 or 14 players ready for that battle. I definitely feel we are better placed to tackle that now. 

Starfelt and Yosuke Ideguchi will both miss the match against Aberdeen but should be available again in August.