Ange Postecoglou could try to shield his team away from the enormity of the Viaplay Cup Final.
He could attempt to play it all down and somehow pretend it’s not a huge occasion. But the Celtic boss reckons that would be a pointless waste of time. Instead, Postecoglou hears the excitement around Sunday’s game with Rangers, the pleas for tickets, the interest from across the globe and feels the prospect of a golden day winning more silver. And he wants his stars to roll with it and embrace it.
The Aussie has been involved in huge games throughout his career. He’s led his country into a World Cup finals. He’s been through massive occasions in Australia and Japan and he’ has already won a League Cup final with Celtic. Some managers may choose to try to protect their players from typical pre-match hype, to play down the consequences. But Postecoglou said: “If you try to bunker down and try to treat it like any other week you’re going to get unstuck.
“There is so much attention on everything we do over the next few days. You can get narky about it or complain about it or you can just embrace it as the fact it’s a big game this week, with a big prize at the end of it and just roll with it.
“The players get asked for cup final tickets, or people around them get excited. As long as the players embrace that and don’t let it affect their preparation then that’s fine. I’ve found that’s the best way to handle these games.
“I’ve found over the course of time that big games are big games. There’s no point trying to shy away from that or trying to treat it like every other game because you know they’re not.
“The players are human beings and they understand what’s at stake at the weekend and the possibility of winning a trophy. You want them excited about that stuff, you want them understanding the consequences of those games. If you embrace that then there’s nothing that’s going to come along which should switch away your focus.
“It’s not a normal week. As much as you want to say just keep it as a normal week, it’s not. I’m here at Hampden today so it’s not a normal week!”
Postecoglou has, of course, yet to sample a cup final against Rangers with the triumph in last season’ showpiece in this tournament coming against Hibs. But he does have Hampden experience of the derby fixture after the teams met in last season’s Scottish Cup semi-finals.
It didn’t go to plan for Celtic as the Hoops lost in extra-time last April but Postecoglou insists that memory is not needed as any motivation this time around. He said: “I don’t think so. Maybe for some of them but I’ve never found that as a good way to sort of chart your course in whatever you do in life, because if you wait for something to happen to you to be motivated then there’s something missing.
“Consistency in excellence means that every week you’re up for it irrespective of the game, the circumstances or the opponent, you want to win everything you are in. When the big games come along that should be motivation enough. You don’t need to have felt pain or some other emotion to consequently get yourself up for a game like this.
“For me, the fact that it’s a game where there’s a trophy on the line, that’s enough, you don’t need anything else. We weren’t far off it. I know we lost but there are always fine margins in these games and credit to Rangers on the day. They got the better of us in extra time.
“But it’s not like we were out of the contest that day. It’s one of those games where whatever is required, we’ve got to find a way to win the game. If it’s done within the 90 then it’s done within the 90. If it’s done in extra time or on penalties then the reality of it is that somebody will be handed the trophy, and you want it to be handed to your skipper rather than the opposition.”
Celtic hammered Rangers 4-0 on home soil with a stylish display of attacking power when the sides first met this term.
But the following fixture at New Year was far closer and ended up a 2-2 draw with the champions needing a late equaliser from top-scorer Kyogo Furuhashi to secure their point. Postecoglou added: “It was a good game. I thought it was entertaining. We started really well. We lost our way a little bit, particularly after Greg Taylor went off.
“Rangers got a foothold in the game, particularly at the beginning of the second half when they put us under a lot of pressure. We didn’t really get to grips with it for a little period, then I thought we finished strong. But every game is different. From our perspective what we’ve done is consistently rise to whatever challenge is before us.
“That day we weren’t dominant like we usually are. We were in parts but certainly not for the whole game. But again, you saw the willingness in the group to not just accept their fate. We still found a way to get something out of the game and that’s the most important thing for us.”
● Ange Postecoglou was promoting Viaplay’s exclusively live coverage of the Viaplay Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic on Sunday from 2pm.
Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.
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