“Let’s just keep our pistols in our holsters for a little while,” Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou was speaking yesterday afternoon to the Mixed Media (mainstream and fan) ahead of Celtic’s game tonight against Hearts at Paradise. The last time Celtic played the Edinburgh side it was in the Premier Sports Cup and Ange will be hoping for more of the same after Celtic overcame Robbie Neilson’s side 3-2, a score that vastly falters tonight’s opponents.

However, the last time we played Heart of Midlothian in the league at the beginning of the season, we fell foul to some sloppy defending and dubious officiating from Bobby Madden and his cohorts. Previewing the game, the Celtic manager said that he will not be out for revenge for the early season scalping he took from the Jambos. He said: “No, that’s going away from the principles of what we are trying to do. If you chase five rabbits you catch none. Our focus is to play our style, put pressure on the opposition, and hopefully that gets us a result because that is what has worked so far.”

 Angelos Postecoglou, Manager of Celtic applauds the fans after their sides victory in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final match between Celtic and St Johnstone at Hampden Park on November 20, 2021. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

The boss also made it clear that that was then and this is now, pointing to the fact Celtic were still in their infancy of Ange’s tenure. Kyogo Furuhashi was thrown into the fold at Tyncastle after just arriving from Japan with Yokohama F. Marinos, whilst Carl Starfelt had also just came to the football club.

On the evolution of the team since then, he continued: “(The team) has definitely evolved since that first game. I mean, Kyogo came to lunch then was in the squad, and Carl Starfelt similar. We had a rough beginning, but at the same time I said to the players we had to be resilient and get through it. Even in that first game, it was pretty tight. We got ourselves back into the game, then scored one that was marginally offside, and let one in at the end. So we had to swallow that pill and learn from it.”

A couple of offside incidents from that weekend are shown below. The flag went up at Tynecastle but not at Ibrox.

He added: “The team has evolved since then, and I knew it would because we got more of our signings in. Since then we have had steady improvement. I don’t know what the end point is, and I never put an end point because if we get there I think I will have sold the players and this football club short. There is no chance we are where we want to be yet, but it’s on me to make sure we keep seeing consistent progress.”

Ange has been nothing but focussed on Celtic since his entrance into Celtic Park, urging his players to play their game and ignore the background noise too. It appears to be a philosophy that is paying dividends considering the rate at which this team has evolved following that first game at Tyncastle back in August. Celtic will be looking to play their own expansive game and take the game to Hearts tomorrow night and cut the deficit to four points in the league again.

Hearts reckon that there’s a battle on for second place in the league and a win tonight would confirm that status allowing them to leapfrog. Celtic. With John Beaton giving theRangers the benefit of a fifty-fifty call on the 85th minute penalty decision at Easter Road last night – very similar to the one that Clancy gave Aberdeen at the weekend against Abada at Celtic Park – see below – Celtic are now seven points behind the latest Ibrox  venture and need the points tonight.

“I think my players are just looking forward to a game at Celtic Park, playing our football and winning. Statement games are at the back end of the season. Let’s just keep our pistols in our holsters for a little while.

“We are just going to play each game as we have so far. I have said a few times, you can get distracted by so many shiny objects everywhere.

“What we want to do is make sure that when we play our football on a game day we are ready for that challenge, because if you start thinking that somehow a result tomorrow gets you something shiny and glittery you lose focus on what is important.

“Our form has been good because we have been concentrating on and respecting every opponent and that is what we will do tomorrow as well.”

Watch Ange’s press conference below, as is now the norm, the Celtic Fan Media questions are at the end…

Paul Gillespie

About Author

I'm a Garngad Bhoy through and through. My first ever Celtic game was a friendly against Italian side Parma at Celtic Park, in 2002. Currently a student of English Literature and Education at the University of Strathclyde for my sins. Favourite game would be a toss up between beating Manchester United with that Naka freekick, or the game against the Oldco when Hesselink scored in the dying seconds. I'm still convinced Cal Mac is wasted playing that far back.

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