Ange Postecoglou is pleased with the way that Alexandro Bernabei has settled into life at Celtic despite his lack of game time.
The former Lanus defender has been an unused substitute in Celtic’s first two games of the season with Greg Taylor the man in possession at left-back.
Postecoglou’s inverted full-backs go against the grain with Bernabei catching the eye in Argentina with his attacking bursts.
At Celtic things are done a bit differently but speaking to the Daily Record, Postecoglou explained how happy he was with the way his new full-back has adapted to playing on a different continent:
People will say I have brought in competition for Greg in Alexandro. But I haven’t brought in competition, I have brought in a player who can, hopefully, allow Greg to be the best player he can be.
You know, I look at last year and Greg was the only real left-back we had at the club. We were playing Josip Juranovic at left-back at times because of that. There is always the risk that you overburden players in the full-back areas, so Bernabei coming in is really good for us as a group. It gives us depth in a key area, in a really important position for us.
With the way we play, full-back is a real key area and I now have four players there that I have the utmost faith and confidence in. The full-back positions are obviously quite unique in terms of how we play compared to other models.
It is just about making sure we provide all the players who play in those areas clarity on the advice we give them. All the full-backs at the club, even Bernabei, who has just come in, have adapted to it very quickly. I think that is because we are very clear about the reason we want them to play that way
Celtic continue with weekend only matches until 31st August when they return to Ross County for a League Cup tie.
That midweek is followed by a Champions League midweek as the fixtures stack up with two games a week all the way through to the World Cup break in November with Postecoglou having to dig deep into his squad.
Last season Celtic played 11 competitive matches before the end of August, this season they will only play six.
