Ange Postecoglou shares the big difference between tomorrow and Celtic's last trip to Govan

By John McGinley

April 2, 2022

It’s almost difficult to cast your mind back to the first derby between Celtic and Rangers this season.

The occasion wasn’t even that long ago, but this season has been a marathon and the defeat at Ibrox feels like another lifetime.

Whatever eleven Ange Postecoglou fields tomorrow lunchtime will be radically different the one that lined up that day.

When you consider that Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie both started that day, you get the idea of how different things are.

It’s something Postecoglou has been reflecting on this weekend. For him, the changes go beyond personnel – it’s more a general sense of harmony right now.

Speaking to The Scottish Sun, the Bhoys boss said: “We had our moments in that first game when we could have made an impact. But the team was very much in its infancy.

“We had Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie who left the day after the game. They made their moves south which we kind of knew was going to happen.

“You can’t afford to lose too many in the Premiership if you want to be successful. But we were able to take away the positives from the game, but you also understand you have to get results.

“It was a different kind of build-up this time as we’re a lot more settled now. The group’s in a good space. It’s probably the strongest group we’ve had since the beginning of the year in terms of fitness and form. But the challenge still remains the same. We’re going to have to be at our best to be successful.”

The suspicion for many Celtic fans is that the last derby at Celtic Park tells us a lot more about tomorrow’s game than that Ibrox trip.

That’s obviously convenient for us since we won 3-0, but both line-ups will be very similar and the only difference will be the flip in the stands. If Celtic can block that out and play their game then it could be a good afternoon for us.

I doubt that Rangers will be as poor as they were that night, but Celtic are well placed to show the massive strides they’ve made since the last jaunt to Govan.

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