Opinion: What Ange will be hammering home to the Celtic players at Lennoxtown this week

By David Walton

April 20, 2022

Everyone is absolutely intrigued to see how Celtic respond to their first domestic defeat since September when they face Ross County this weekend.

Indeed, the Hoops will come up against the Dingwall side looking to get back on track after Sunday’s Hampden defeat to Rangers.

As expected, plenty of pressure is being piled on the Hoops. Chris Sutton stated on the BBC’s Monday Club that “the pressure is on” after the loss last Sunday. There’s been a commentary of Celtic needing to win this weekend in order to avoid giving Rangers hope.

But that’s nothing like the message that will be getting passed through Lennoxtown by the manager. Far from it. In fact, when it comes to Ange Postecoglou’s motivational talks this week – it’ll be all about just taking things one game at a time and getting back on the horse.

It’ll be about getting 3 points in Dingwall and moving one step closer to the Premiership. It’ll have absolutely nothing to do with ensuring they don’t give Rangers a glimpse of anything. That isn’t Ange’s style. He simply doesn’t focus on our rivals and he’s made that perfectly clear all season [Sky Sports].

Celtic have one primary goal this week. One goal that they’ll be working towards for their full week of work at Lennoxtown – getting a result against Ross County. That’s it. There’s no need to over-complicate it. No need to look ahead at the potential repercussions of what may happen if we don’t. That’s introducing a negative narrative.

Celtic shouldn’t be worried about Rangers; Rangers should be worried about Celtic

What exactly is it Celtic have to fear here? They’re going to Dingwall having beaten Ross County 3 times out of 3 this season. Granted, that doesn’t guarantee success at the weekend, but it certainly doesn’t mean you should hold any fear over the challenge.

Celtic are in a place Rangers would love to be in. That’s the reality of the situation here. Celtic are supposed to have a ton of pressure on them, but it’s a pressure we should enjoy. A pressure that you can only get by being so close to the league championship.

We’re only 3 wins away so let’s flip the script. Why shouldn’t Rangers be feeling the heat heading to Fir Park on Saturday? After all, drop points there and Celtic could set up a chance to win the league against them the next week. What a hellish scenario that would be for Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his players.

Nothing has been said about that of course considering we lost last Sunday. The atmosphere at Lennoxtown is supposed to be deflated and negative. But that’s not Ange’s style, and this week it’ll be all about just getting back on track.

We don’t need to worry about anyone else at this stage of the season. It’s all about ourselves. Rangers certainly don’t control Celtic’s destiny. So why would Ange allow them to by bringing them into our pre-match thoughts this weekend?

It’s not happening. Celtic fans expect a response on Sunday, and Ange is just the man to deliver it.

In other news, Chris Sutton slams “horrific” Ross County pitch ahead of Celtic visit