Ange Postecoglou doesn’t expect his players to have to dig deep into their hidden reserves of mental strength to be able to deal with the pressure of playing in the hostile environment at Tynecastle tomorrow afternoon in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.

And the reason for that is quite simple. The Australian believes that he challenges his Celtic players on a daily basis and by making them constantly unsure of their position that is the best way to steel themselves for a test like Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle.

“What’s important about that is that you do it constantly. You can’t just do these things in the big games or games with consequence. It’s not like a tap where you can turn it on and off.

“Having a strong mindset, having a real belief in something, that needs to be worked on on a daily basis. Wednesday night we needed to show a strong mentality because, especially the first half, we weren’t as fluent as we usually are, and with that kind of scenario it would have been very easy for guys to go away from what we do and maybe try individually to change the course of what we are doing,” Ange said.

“We have been consistent for a very long time performance-wise and results-wise and it’s because the lads show a strong mindset on a daily basis so, when game time comes around, it’s part of who they are and part of what they do.

“If you are waiting for a big game to show that character or mindset then I just don’t think it works, you are going in there under false pretences that somehow you can whip something out that you don’t use on a daily basis just because it’s a big game.”

Watch Ange Postecoglou’s media conference from earlier this afternoon below with as usual the most interesting questions coming from The Celtic Fan Media at the end…

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