'Would have been building statues to that guy' - Celtic's Ange Postecoglou dishes out Rangers praise

There may have been nipping back-and-forth between Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou and his Rangers counterpart Michael Beale over the latter’s “lucky man” description of his rival.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has acknowledged Michael Beale's Rangers impact but believes Giovanni van Bronckhorst's endeavours deserve appreciation. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The pair, though, were only ever gracious over the impact each has had on their clubs as they conducted their media duties for Sunday’s Viaplay League Cup final. A showpiece between the country’s two footballing colossuses that won’t merely decide the first silverware of the season. It will ensure one of the duo is elevated and the other denigrated, despite both heading into their Hampden face-off on the back of nine-game winning runs. That is how it is in the Glasgow domain. Yet Postecoglou succeeded in circumventing such absolutes. He did so through acknowledging Beale’s ability to extract more from his squad than was proving the case under predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst, while at the same time presenting the Dutchman – for whom he patently had great respect – as a desperately unlucky man over his November sacking, following a hardly unremarkable year in post.

“I think Michael has changed the way they play, gone back to a system and a style that probably suited the players that were there before,” the Celtic manager said when asked to pinpoint the biggest difference in the Rangers team across the three months that the former right-hand man to title-winning Ibrox manager Steven Gerrard has been in charge. “It’s been an easy transition for him and I think his players took a little bit of comfort from that. It is always hard when you change and manager. Look, to be fair to Gio, he was a whisker away from having an historic year. He won a trophy [with the Scottish Cup], finished second in the league and got to the final of the Europa [League]. You change a couple of those things and they are building statues to that guy. So you kinda know it is a fine line. They were a very good side last year too. And they continue that this year but with Michael … I think whenever you change manager, particularly mid-season, it is hard. But I think Michael’s familiarity with the club and the players themselves, I think they got a bit of comfort and, though it was change, it was change that they knew, and would suit them. So they are playing with more belief and you can see that in the fact that the results have been consistent since he came in.”

Celtic’s only aberration in their past 23 domestic games came with the new year 2-2 draw at Ibrox, when they were required to fashion an 87th-minute equaliser to prevent Beale claiming a victory from his first derby as a manager. The nip-and-tuck encounter was a world apart from the 4-0 thrashing Postecoglou’s men dished out at home three months earlier, in what proved Van Bronckhorst’s final experience of the fixture. The manner in which the ancient adversaries’ most recent skirmish hasn’t given the Australian any cause to consider tweaking his system.

“We started really well but lost our way a bit, especially after Greg Taylor went off [injured],” the 57-year-old said. “Rangers got a foothold, particularly in the second half when they put us under a lot of pressure. We didn’t really get to grips with it for a little period. Then I thought we finished strong. But every game is different. From our perspective what we’ve done, I think, is rise consistently to whatever challenge before us. That day we weren’t dominant like usually we are. We were in parts but certainly not for the whole game. But, again, you saw the willingness in the group to not just accept their fate. We still found a way to get something and that’s the most important thing for us.”