Source: Team_Talk
Edu targets domestic treble
The Light Blues flew out to Germany today for a pre-season tour without a single addition to the group which won back the Clydesdale Bank Premier League from Celtic last season before completing the double with a Homecoming Scottish Cup final win over Falkirk at Hampden.
Despite the sale of former skipper Barry Ferguson to Birmingham last week for just over £1million, it is commonly understood that more players have to exit the club before manager Walter Smith can spend.
However, the 23-year-old American midfielder, who remained in Glasgow to continue his rehabilitation from a knee operation, believes the lack of new faces can be taken as an endorsement of the current squad and he is confident there is still scope for improvement next season.
"I guess it shows the confidence the gaffer and the rest of the staff have in the team that we have here," he said.
"They feel we have the ability to defend our title and produce the way we produced last season to win the league.
"We have guys coming back from injury like Kevin Thomson which is going to boost our squad and when I'm fit it's a matter of showing that I can do a job.
"It's up to the gaffer and coaching staff (if they want to sign anyone) but the players all feel comfortable in the staff we have here.
"It was good that we had a big squad last season because when we lost players through injury and suspension we had enough guys who could come in and produce.
"Now it's a matter of preparing properly to show what we can do when the new season starts."
"Everyone is excited about winning the double but we know there is still more to do," Edu continued.
"We'd like to improve on last year, hopefully repeat that (achievement) and add another trophy to the shelf to win the treble.
"That's something that you shoot for as well as doing well in the Champions League and getting out of the group stages and seeing what happens from there.
"I don't see why that (reaching the last 16) is not a realistic ambition. I don't see why you should sell yourself short.
"Obviously we are going to be facing tough competition - but you never know what's going to happen.
"You always have to be optimistic, if you go in to a game selling yourself short then you have already lost the battle, you have already put yourself a goal down.
"I think you have to approach every game with the mentality that you have a chance of winning."
Edu was reluctant to continue his feud with Celtic defender Glenn Loovens, who will appear in front of a Scottish Football Association Disciplinary panel on August 7 to explain his challenge on the USA international in May's Old Firm clash at Ibrox.
Edu later branded Loovens' tackle "malicious" after studying footage of the challenge from which the Ibrox midfielder recovered after treatment to continue the game.
But earlier this week the big Dutchman hit back saying: "The word malicious makes it sound like it was deliberate.
"That is his opinion but he can't speak for what I am thinking. I didn't do it on purpose. It was just an accident.
"It all happened so quickly and I think (the SFA) will realise that as well.
"I know what I was thinking and it definitely wasn't on purpose."
However, Edu, speaking at the club's Murray Park training complex
where he was promoting Rangers Football Club's Residential Soccer School Camp, is happy to let justice take its course.
He said: "I called it the way I saw it, he called it the way he saw it and that's what happens in football.
"There are always going to be different perceptions as to what happened and that's the end of it.
"It is not up to me to decide what is going to happen to him, it's up to the SFA."
