Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is solely focused on AZ Alkmaar this week, rather than looking ahead to the Rangers game.
The Bhoys thrashed St Mirren 6-0 at Celtic Park today. It’s the perfect precursor to a huge week for the club.
Celtic now travel away to the Netherlands and then to Ibrox next Sunday. The two matches will go a long way to setting the Bhoys on a course this season.
However, Postecoglou didn’t want to entertain questions about that derby trip, shutting down the line of questioning from Sky Sports.
When asked about the match and the Celtic support’s lack of ticket allocation, the manager said: “You know what, I reckon after Thursday I’ll get a million questions about that game. I just can’t look beyond AZ at the moment. It’s just such a big game for us and our season. We want to be in the Europa League. We’ve got a good opportunity to do that.
“I’m sure there’ll be a great deal of focus on the game after that. But I’m pretty disciplined to make sure the next fixture is the one we’re looking at.”
This is the right response from Postecoglou of course. There’s no need to create headlines about the derby now or comment on things like the ticket allocation debacle, which we reported on yesterday.
Don’t get me wrong, the Ibrox game is huge. But AZ are on the menu first and if we don’t focus 100% on that then the tie could easily slip away from us.
The two-goal lead over the Dutch is healthy, but not insurmountable for a team of their quality at home in front of their supporters.
As Postecoglou says, on Friday morning everyone will turn their attentions to the derby. For now, the squad should be able to prepare for the European trip in peace. Hopefully.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou provides timeframe for Josip Juranovic inclusion after Celtic announcement.
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