Celtic's Alistair Johnston in Scottish cup final boost

What have you been working on the last week or so? Obviously the last two results haven't been what you wanted, but I suppose it is natural given what you've achieved up to that point?

Yeah, it's been pretty normal. We are just kind of having our normal processes after a game and then just sort of preparing for this week. We know it's going to be a busy week with three games in a week and from that perspective it is just about making sure the boys are in a good sort of physical mental shape and just keeping training nice and sharp and getting ready for for the cup final in a week's time.

You mentioned that cup final. I know you've always been big on one game at a time, but is that the incentive for the players that they are playing for a place in that showpiece final at the end of the season?

No, I don't know if they are playing for a place they just want to be ready and we've got two games where we can prepare for that. The best way to prepare for that is just to play our football and make sure that, like I said, everyone's in great condition. In terms of selection for the cup final, that'll just come down like it usually does to just how we've trained, how people look at training, what I think we need to start with. It's not about  people performing now and getting their position in the line up because it's never about that. It's about just making sure that like I said, we're all well prepared for what's ahead.

Can I just ask you a bit more about that, what you've been doing in the last couple of weeks? Matt Riley says that you've been working a lot on on mindsets. I just wonder as a manager and other coaches, how, how do you address affecting a players mindset?

I don't know. I guess it's just through experience. You allow them to experience things and then you reflect on that experience and try and draw on the things that you feel will make you better equipped next time that experience comes around, but there's nothing specific about it that makes it a constant thing. Matt's probably talking about his own experience over the last couple of weeks. In general you kind of work on that all the time and you're just trying to, like I said, use every experience you have individually and collectively to try and improve all that facets of whatever it is you're doing.

In terms of, I think you've come out and said that you wanted to use these games and probably games going forward as well to give more guys more game time. I just wonder what have you learned about your your squad as a whole during that process?

No, I don't think so, I think I just wanted to give guys game time so they can play and so we can be ready for for the cup final. I haven't learned anything in the last period that I didn't already know. From my perspective, there's nothing I'm learning now that I didn't already know. Actually the one thing I do know is the squad is Scottish champions. So that's a pretty good feeling and that's what we set out to do and we've done it. So there's nothing else I need to know really, apart from the fact that they've been outstanding this year and they've won the competition, they've won another competition and they got an opportunity to win another competition. So, I think  everything I need to know is right there.

You rotated the centre-half position since Carter Vickers injury. Are you looking to continue to do that ahead of the cup final or are you kind of looking to nail down a partner for Carl Starfelt for that fixture?

Again, it's just about sort of using these games like I said, to get game time because I didn't want to go into knock on water the Scottish Cup final and we get an injury and on the week of the game or the the week before when somebody hasn't played for six or seven weeks. I thought once we won the title, I just thought, well, why not use this time to sort of give game time to the guys and make sure that whatever happens between now and the cup final, we've got guys who have played games fairly recently. We've had one game a week for quite a while now and there's quite a few guys who haven't played for a long time and like I said, I was just really keen to try and get as many of them some game time so that coming into Cup final week we've got hopefully a healthy squad but also a squad that's actually played some football recently so that whatever line up I come with, I come up with isn't somebody who hasn't played for five or six or seven weeks.

Looking ahead to next season and news this morning that five experienced players are leaving Rangers this summer, including the goalkeeper Allan McGregor, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos and there is such a big turnover there. Are you expecting a tougher title challenge domestically next season?

I don't know why would that even like concern me. To be honest, I mean. I think this time last year Rangers were in the Europa League final and in a Scottish Cup final and they strengthened after the season, didn't they? So does anyone really care? Like, seriously, we didn't start favourites in my first year and we probably weren't favourites this year. So people will say what they want, mate. Everyone's got to plan until they are punched on the nose and then you're going to reassess from there. So when we start next year and the games start, everyone will see who's really strong and who isn't strong and all that sort of stuff. Right now, league wise anyway, it's the equivalent of junk time, mate, so we just get on with it.

Can I just ask you how Alistair Johnson and where he is in terms of possibly make it back for that cup final in a weeks time?

He trained today and that was his first session. He won't play tomorrow, but all things being equal, if he gets through sort of the rest of week's training then he should be available for the weekend's game. We'll just see hopefully getting him some game time in the weekend and then assess it from there. He's worked really hard, obviously with the cup final in mind to try and get back and he's got back really well and he's worked hard with the medical team and he looked after himself really well. It was good to see him training today and just good to have him part of it because he's obviously been a big part of it in the second-half of the year.

Is there any other injury news ahead of tomorrow night?

No, everyone else is good and the ones who missed out last week obviously Cameron is out and and Aaron is struggling a little bit with a niggle so he'll miss tomorrow.

What are you expecting from Hibernian in the game tomorrow at Easter Road? They're still fighting for European football. How do you see the game going?

Well, like I said, I think all the games probably apart from ourselves and Rangers, everyone else has got something to play for. Like I said, with Hibs having Europe in mind it should be a good game for us. It is always a difficult game at Easter Road and it's always a good atmosphere and because they got something to play for, I think it'll be a good challenge for our guys. I think they've they've sort of been the most consistent they have been probably all year in terms of the way they're playing. It'll be a good challenge for us, it will be a good atmosphere and we are looking forward to the game.

You say yourselves have obviously not got much to play for league wise, but all the other teams are still fighting for Europe, is that difficult or at least different to the rest of the season in terms of your approach? Do you find it the same in terms of getting the players up for the game and and the tactics you play is it just the same that you've been doing for the previous 36 games?

Look, you just go out there and try and play our football. The league is done we can't lose the league now, unless somebody's brought in a new rule. The players are aware of that. So I can't walk around pretending trying to create some alternate universe where we're still trying to achieve something they've already achieved. Like I said we still want to enjoy our games and we still want to prepare for the cup final and the best way to do that is to play our football and take each challenge as it comes. The players are training well and they want to finish the season strong. We'll prepare for a good game and there will be a great day on the weekend as Trophy Day is always a special day for us and then we've got a full week to to prepare for a really big game.

What have you made of the guys that have come in since January, their adjustment to the league and their lifestyle considering they came in from outside of Europe?

Yeah, they've all done really well. It's always hard for players to come in mid-season particularly if their seasons aren't aligned to ours. So, if you bring in somebody from Europe then they're mid-season as well. But yeah, the boys we brought in all kind of finished off their season, whether that was Yuki (Kobayashi) and Tomoki (Iwata) and even Alistair (Johnston). And Alistair had to go to a World Cup as well. Big Oh, obviously finishing off his season and going to a World Cup as well. So, as we saw last year, by the time we get to this point of the season, you can tell that they probably need a break and refresher mentally as much as anything. But yeah, the boys have all come in and they've all done a job for us. They've all helped us achieve what we've achieved so far. They've fit in really well with the group, they're contributing where they can and I've got no doubt once we start pre-season next year, they'll feel much more comfortable about tackling the season ahead, particularly with the pre-season under their belts and being able to start at the same place as everyone else. Because as I said, it's not easy when you've completed a season, you come across here and then everyone else is kind of mid-season. You play 18 months of football without a real break. So, for all of them, I think I think this has been good because it's introduced them to the football here, the club here life here in many respects and it means pre-season next year they'll hit the ground running.

You spoke recently about slight tactical tweaks you made after the Champions League. How do you think the team have adapted to that?

Yeah, it's a work in progress. You know, we looked at the way we tackle the Champions League and how we can improve so that next year we can keep chipping away at the difference that there is obviously between us and the other clubs that are in there regularly. So obviously our first goal is to get in there regularly. Yeah, I think the boys have embraced it and changed their game. I thought we became a lot more dominant in terms of the way we control games and really denied oppositions the opportunity to really create too much against us domestically. And that was because of the players embracing the lessons we learned through the Champions League experience. I mean I think that the sheer volume of goals we've scored in all competitions has come from the fact that again Champions League experience teaches you that you know you don't get as many chances, so the kind of chances you create and the ability to convert those opportunities becomes really important. Again, I think that's why we've scored so many goals in the league this year, particularly since then is because the players are really concentrated on those areas of focus.

Just wanted to speak to you a wee bit about goalkeepers and during your time in Japan your goalkeepers were known for being a big part of the build-up play from the back and you saw Joe Hart in preseason, especially against Norwich, when I was there. He was quite far up the pitch, almost acting like a third centre back but overall we haven't seen it as much as maybe we thought we might see it and so I just wondering what's your current thinking on the goalkeeper's role in build-up play and how far up the pitch you want them to be to operate within that system?

It's all a bit relative. I guess in Japan we were a bit more aggressive, but it was a different kind of game we had to address there in terms of the style of football and style of opposition we were meeting, so it kind of suited us to be a bit more aggressive. There were times this year where we have been a little bit more, but, for the most part, we found this year that with teams sitting off so deep, there just wasn't really that need for us to involve our goalkeeper in the build-up of anything we've tried to make adjustments where we don't use them at all if possible. Not Joe (Hart), just our goalkeeper in general. I think for the most part, most teams will use kind of that as a little bit of a trigger to press you or try to set up our football beyond that first pass to get beyond lines and so it hasn't really been a need for us to have that more aggressive position. I think potentially maybe in Champions League that might come into it a bit more, but when your keeper is involved in the build-up, you're looking at usually a team doing maybe a three-quarter press on us. For us, usually, one or two teams will go really aggressive, press the rest, and just sit on the halfway line and I don't really want the goalkeeper involved in the build-up there, it's more what we do beyond that point.

Speaking about beyond that point, at Celtic, we've seen Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor acting as a double pivot with Greg inverting. So, with players like Iwata and Kobayashi coming in, does this afford you more flexibility in creating different versions of that kind of box midfield, such as having deeper midfielders and the like?

Yeah, I think so, I think the more our game model evolves. I've said before that it's not a step-by-step plan. Some of it just happens organically because of the nature of the players you bring in and definitely, I think with Kobayashi and Iwata and Oh and even Alistair it's about how can we develop more tools in our game to find solutions when teams try and stop us in a certain way. But there's another layer to our football and like I said, a lot of that's not prescriptive, it's more organically grown. Greg's really comfortable coming inside. So, it makes sense for him to play that role when Alistair, on the other side has got other strengths that I think we can use in a different way. Same with Tony. So, with all our players, it's about offering them the platform where we could explore those kinds of things. I think there's no secret, not just with us, but football in general. If you can get superiority in numbers in those central areas, it gives you a good chance of success and less chance of being exploited going the other way so it's who you put in that central corridor so to speak, is it your full backs, is it your wingers, is it your midfielders? I think the more floored we can be, the harder it will be for an opposition to find a way of stopping us.

I know later this afternoon it will be announced that you are the Scottish Premiership Manager of the Season. First of all, congratulations. What do these awards mean for you?

It's a great recognition for everyone involved. The players are obviously the first ones, but you know they get recognised in their own way. But I think Manager of the Year is a recognition of the work all the staff have done off the field to prepare the players, for the challenges ahead. I couldn't be proud or happier with the whole group. It's been an outstanding season, coming off the back of last year's success in, in many ways, unexpected success of winning the double. The challenge was can we come back, be better, be more dominant in the league, and try and win both competitions. The way that everyone's tackled that task has just been outstanding and I couldn't be happier for the whole group. Whilst obviously it's my name on that trophy, it's more recognition of just the great work everyone's done to get us to this point, and we’ve still got a Cup Final to make it really special. Irrespective of that, just the outstanding work from everyone involved.