I'm not surprised Ange Postecoglou has seemed a little bit bemused after the last few games.
The Celtic manager must be a perplexed about the narrative around these dead rubbers. His side have lost a few games but you’d think they’d chucked the league with some of the reaction. Postecoglou must be tempted to shrug and say, ‘who gives a f***, mate?’
Seriously. These games are absolutely meaningless – there has been nothing on the line. Celtic haven’t won them, but, honestly, it’s a total waste of time trying to analyse them. Does Postecoglou need to win the Playing For Pride Trophy as well? The way some folk are going on, Rangers are flying and Celtic are struggling. Some are trying to frame it like it will have some sort of bearing on next season. That’s frankly ridiculous. Have they casually forgotten the last nine months? The objective at the start of the season was to win the league. Celtic managed it with room to spare.
They have delivered in every single big game domestically and now they’ve lost a bit of edge people are making assumptions about August. It’s nonsense. Rangers might take a bit of confidence from their last few results, but this is a team that couldn’t do it when it really mattered.
It the three crunch derby games, they came second best each time and folded under the pressure. Now the heat is off, they are world beaters again. As for Celtic, they smashed through the finishing line, are they expected to keep sprinting?
Trust me here, I’ve been in this situation. When we won the title by a mile in 2001 under Martin O’Neill we lost to Dundee and Kilmarnock in the last two games.
A couple of years later we were out of sight in the league again but dropped points to Dunfermline and Motherwell. At least, so I’ve been told – because I honestly can’t remember the games. I’m sure Celtic fans don’t either.
You know why? A few weeks later we went on to add the Scottish Cup to the league titles and those meaningless matches became just statistics and distant memories. That’s what cracks me up about some of the moaning about Celtic’s recent form.
Sure, they would have preferred to have beaten Rangers at Ibrox. It would have been nice to add wins against St Mirren and Hibs. But anyone who understands football, understands that is not always the case.
The reality is, these results don’t matter a jot. It was the same with us 20 years ago. You pour so much into the campaign, physically and mentally, that you can’t help but take the foot off a bit once the prizes have been won. It’s blooming hard winning every single week.
It might not be a conscious thing, but it’s hard to avoid a blip. Most teams have at some point during the season. It’s not a bad trick if you can have one after the competition has been won. The remaining games have been practically friendlies – and yet they are up against teams with plenty to play for.
You could argue Celtic should still have had the quality to win the games, but you look at Rangers. They needed to win the last derby. St Mirren were fighting for Europe. Hibs have a chance of fourth. They are all highly motivated, while Celtic know their work is done in the league.
Listen, I’m sure Postecoglou will have wanted to rotate his squad and keep the winning run going, building momentum towards Hampden. But he is also well aware of the phenomenal effort his players have put in to get to the stage where the title race was put to bed a month before the end of the campaign.
He’s chucked in a few of his fringe men and might not have got the answers he was looking for. I have some sympathy for them as well. They are playing alongside guys who simply can’t be at full throttle right now, and that has made their task harder.
I don’t blame Postecoglou for throwing them in. When would be get the chance to get them game time other wise? Celtic have had the foot down for months and there’s been no wriggle room to tinker and experiment. Face it, if the title was still up for debate, they wouldn’t be playing unless there was an injury crisis.
If we were heading for a photo finish, Cameron Carter-Vickers would be getting his surgery in the summer, Kyogo would be starting up front every week and Greg Taylor wouldn’t be given the odd day off. But that is the luxury Postecoglou and his players have earned. They got the job done early and can afford to coast home.
Some people are getting twitchy about the Cup Final – but I am telling them, the last few games will have no bearing on Hampden whatsoever. It was the same with us under O’Neill. We had a couple of dodgy results after lifting the title but when it came to the big day we were bang on it.
I’m not saying it’s like flicking a switch but there is something different that happens when it’s a proper competitive fixture with a trophy on the line. There’s absolutely no chance Celtic will still be strolling when the whistle sounds against Inverness Caley Thistle.
The rewards are too big. This Celtic side has thrilled all season and is on the verge of completing something really special. And if they can go down in the record books, no one will remember the last few games of a league campaign that was already in the bag.
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