Celtic were originally scheduled to take on the Rangers in the Sydney Super Cup, before the Ibrox club decided to pull out of the Glasgow Derby down under, following backlash from their supporters. The Hoops fans in Australia have a big game to look forward to regardless, as Ange Postecoglou’s side are set to take on Frank Lampard’s Everton instead.
Everton are going through a tough period right now. Lampard did a great job in helping them avoid relegation from the Premier League last season, but once again, they find themselves in and around the drop zone, as the Merseyside club sit at 17th on the table, just a point above 18th-placed Nottingham Forest.
Unsurprisingly, questions have been raised about the future of Lampard in the Everton managerial hot seat and one man who has been linked with the job is incidentally Postecoglou.
Despite that, Lampard had nothing but positive things to say about the Celtic manager, leading upto the friendly between the two sides in the Sydney Super Cup. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the Everton boss said:
"“He’s known as a top-class coach for the work he’s done before Celtic with the national team and other places and I think Celtic are a huge club with big responsibility so credit to him for the job that he’s doing there.“It’s great for Australians to have a coach to travel at that level and have success so I look forward to meeting him.“I look forward to going against him… yeah it will be nice to see him.”"
Lampard makes classy comments about Celtic boss before friendly game
Those are some really classy comments from Lampard about the Celtic boss. It is pretty clear that the Everton manager holds Postecoglou in very high regard.
Postecoglou’s work at Celtic has certainly caught the eye of people down south. When he arrived at the club, there were question marks about whether he had the credentials for the Parkhead job. After all, it was his first top flight job in Europe. There are no doubts now.
Postecoglou guided Celtic to a Premiership and League Cup double last season, against all odds and expectations. This time around, the Hoops sit nine points ahead of the Rangers after 15 league games. That is quite the turnaround and the Australian deserves every plaudit that he is getting right now and more.