Celtic taskmaster Ange Postecoglou has shut down any talk of a Treble - and warned his players not to stumble before the finishing line.
The Hoops moved a step closer to a domestic clean sweep by beating Hearts 3-0 at Tynecastle in the Scottish Cup quarter-final. That set up another Hampden date in the last four, just a fortnight after lifting the Viaplay Cup at the national stadium. Celtic are also nine points clear at the top of the Premiership and - on current form - they look unstoppable.
But gaffer Postecoglou is refusing to get complacent. And he says if his players start believing they’ve got all three trophies in the bag - they’ll come a cropper before May. When asked if he’d thought about a potential Treble, the Aussie boss said: “We’ve got Hibs next week and that’s where our focus is. That’s not a throwaway line. I get it here. Scottish football is a cauldron.
“There isn’t a person here who hasn’t got an interest or a skin in the game. There is always a lot of noise, a lot of talk.
“But our role is to stay really disciplined and focus on what’s important. The lads have embraced that. They understand that if you take your eye off the ball you’re going to trip up.
“We never look beyond the next challenge. That’s the only way we’re going to achieve what we want to. You hit the nail on the head by saying ‘if’ we continue this form. There is always the possibility you won’t if you don't concentrate, if you aren’t disciplined and work hard every day.
“It’s OK me saying that but we see it out there. You see the end product but I see it from the whole group on a daily basis. They push each other to be the best they can be.
“As a consequence of that our performances have been really strong and are getting stronger. We look a stronger and better team every week than we were at the start of the year. And we weren’t a bad team back then.
“The idea now is to prepare for Hibs next week and that is an important game for us before the international break. After that, we can get our heads down and head for the finish line.”
Postecoglou, who lost Swedish defender Carl Starfelt at half-time with a hip injury, was delighted with their display in Gorgie. Goals from Aaron Mooy, Kyogo Furuhashi and Cameron Carter-Vickers secured an emphatic win and a place in the semi-finals.
The manager said: “We were really good today. We knew this was going to be the most intense game of our week with the nature of it being a cup game at Tynecastle.
“But I thought the lads handled it really well. We started strongly and played some great football. The quality of goals recently has been outstanding.
“Obviously the lads have a lot of confidence at the moment, a lot of belief in what we do. Everyone says it but Tynecastle isn’t an easy place to come to. We knew what was at stake for Hearts, as this was probably their biggest chance for a trophy. We knew it would be a tough task but the boys handled it well.”
Postecoglou didn’t have a failure against the Jambos but Mooy and Carter-Vickers were exceptional for Celtic, while Kyogo bagged his 26th goal of the campaign. Also, when keeper Joe Hart was called upon once, he responded with a superb save to deny Hearts defender Toby Sibbick.
Postecoglou said: “Joe is a top-quality keeper. I know it seems like he doesn’t have a lot to do but he is still a very important part of our structure.
“Sometimes it’s the saves that give goalkeepers the prominence and it was a great save today when we needed it. When you come to Tynecastle they are going to create at least a couple of opportunities.
“Again, I thought the boys were really strong defensively when they needed to be. It was great for Cam to get his goal and again, he is such an enormous player for us.
“It’s not easy to play as a defender in our team as you need to do a lot of one v one defending. Cam is strong, he doesn’t lose any duels and gives confidence to the guys around him.
“Kyogo has put in a massive shift this week. You can’t underestimate the work he has put in leading the line. His team-mates appreciate him and he is a goal threat any time he plays. So I’m sure there are more goals to come from him.”
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