It seems the Rangers squad have had enough of all the big talk ahead of derbies against Celtic – well, at least one of them has anyway.
Celtic fans have become accustomed to soundbites and bravado coming out of Ibrox for much of the last 12 months, despite Ange Postecoglou’s Bhoys re-establishing the club’s generational dominance.
But it appears Borna Barisic, at the very least, has realised how stupid that can make them look, refusing to get drawn into questions of the mentality and strength of Rangers ahead of this weekend’s semi-final.
Rangers talk big and then they lose to Celtic
The defender said in a media event today [Football Scotland]: “Listen, it’s very hard to talk about that now. We always talk about mentality, we need to do this and we need to do that. It comes and then we lose and it makes it, like, you said stupid things before the game when you don’t do that.
“Do you know what I mean? So, I don’t want to talk too much. I would like to be more quiet this time and show what I mean and what I do, what we did all week, and try to show that on the pitch.”
Maybe someone should tell first-team coach Neil Banfield about that. He was the latest member of the Ibrox group to talk too much earlier this week, claiming that Rangers were “coming” for Celtic after taking issue with one of Postecoglou’s post-match comments following the Scottish League Cup final.
It is definitely wise for that team to stay quiet about how good they are at the moment. Celtic have already picked up a trophy at their direct expense this season and are on course to deliver a league title too.
Until they actually manage to do something against us, all the noise just makes them look a bit daft. That’s not to say Sunday will be easy for Celtic, far from it. Barisic and his teammates are likely to make it tough for the Bhoys – as they have done in a couple of games against us this term.
More often than not, though, Celtic are finding a way to win. That’s why we’ll be favourites again before kick-off on Sunday.
In other news, Ange talks up “hugely beneficial” Celtic derby boost as training goes up a level before Rangers.
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