David Martindale takes Ange Postecoglou to task

David Martindale has claimed that Celtic pay more attention to playing Livingston than any other team.

The Livi boss certainly welcomes as much media attention as possible, using every interview to promote himself and how he has turned his life around following a prison term for drug dealing and money laundering.

Sky Sports and BBC Scotland seem to enjoy a trip along the M8 to pick up on the latest soundbites from Martindale who is never slow to share his opinions.

Most reporters now realise that while paying attention to the strengths of opponents Ange Postecoglou’s style is to ensure that his own players impose themselves on opponents- whether they are facing Livingston on Real Madrid.

The Daily Record reports the Livingston boss saying:

I think Ange has said he doesn’t take any game, any different from another. But I have found Celtic players with a wee bit more intensity, they are giving us a little more respect and by giving us a little bit more respect it’s probably adding to their own game. They are putting a lot more detail into the game.

It’s brilliant for the staff and players at the club. It’s a difficult job, everyone thinks it’s easy sitting in a certain type of shape. I’ve gone Ibrox, Parkhead and played wingers, 4-3-3 and attacking central midfielders. You fall into a low block because they have that much possession.

These comments are almost certainly aimed at drawing a reply from Postecoglou but the Celtic boss is too smart and street wise to fall into that trap. Martindale needs the Australian much much more than the other way around.

It seems that one victory last September has developed extra significance even though Celtic have returned to Livingston twice and ran out fairly comfortable winners, 3-0 earlier this season and 3-1 in March.

4 minutes in, Ange emphatically denies the Livi suggestion.

Back in October Postecoglou made it very clear that he treats Livingston exactly the same way as every other opponents.

Gabriel Antoniazzi: Is that the message that you give to your players, just continue to play your football because, what you tell us, continue to play yourselves up, you never really change or do you have to give them, a little bit of added words, tell them it’s going to be a bit more of a battle away to Livingston?

Ange Postecoglou: “No mate, I don’t lie to you and I don’t lie to the players. What I say is what I say is we have to play our football because within our football all of those things are there.

“Whatever the challenge is we’re not going to overcome it by changing our approach, that’s not going to work for us. What works for us, we have some basic fundamentals that we want to learn and that is working hard and trying to dominate the game in possession and be really aggressive without the ball.

“When we do those things, irrespective of the opposition home or away we know that we’re a tough team to beat. That’s what we’ve got to deliver at the weekend.”