Ange Postecoglou shoots down talk of tensions in his Celtic squad - 'it's just another week'

Ange Postecoglou has suggested Celtic are under less pressure as they seek a tiumphant climax to their cinch Premiership campaign than when starting out in it.

Ange Postecoglou dons a cap to shield him from the sunshine at Celtic's Friday training session but doesn't feel his team need protected from the title race tensions being projected on to them. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Managing tensions among his squad doesn’t come into the Australian’s thinking as five post-split games stand between them and a title success currently appearing firmly in their grasp courtesy of a six-point advantage over rivals Rangers. However, the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to the Ibrox side last weekend has prompted much conjecture over whether, as the finish line approaches, Celtic might start to feel the heat – starting with Sunday’s testing assignment against Ross County in Dingwall. But in pointing to how his first league bid in Scotland has unfolded, Postecoglou intimates any focus on potential fretting in the Celtic camp fails to take account of what has allowed them to take matters into their own hands.

“I think I just see things differently,” he said when asked if he had to “eliminate” stresses for his players in the weeks ahead. “If it’s all been about pressure, when you have lost three games out of your first six – and you know that for the next 32 games that you probably can’t lose another one, [or] maybe [just] one more – there’s a hell of a lot of pressure there you know. But we haven’t thought that way so we’re not going to change our thinking now. Back then, what was important to us, was that in each game we try to play our football and approach every game in the same manner and keep building on that.

‘And that’s what we’ll do for the next five games. I know people maybe now just look at it and think ‘they are in a good position here – they might be able to win it’. But we’ve been working under stress and pressure the whole way through. And I think when you do that, it almost becomes normal to you that this is just another week where you have to win a game of football. That’s been the case, as I’ve said, since round six.”

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