The pressure and level of scrutiny at Celtic is such that any defeat will be treated as a disaster, with two on the bounce bordering crisis.
It’s an attitude that manager Ange Postecoglou personally indulges, and seems to be motivated by, he shellacked his side’s performance in the 2-1 loss to Sydney FC on Thursday, though was more enthused by their performance in this morning’s penalty shootout defeat to Frank Lampard’s Everton.
This attitude has clearly been imbued upon the squad, too. Anthony Ralston was similarly downbeat about the Sydney showing in his own post-match, despite the relative insignificance of the match and the competition in a footballing capacity.
If the players weren’t feeling sorry for themselves, Postecoglou certainly wasn’t going to issue any sympathy despite the conditions surrounding the Sydney match, in stark contrast to the Everton manager Frank Lampard, who was content to make adjustments to his side’s approach for the game against Celtic.
Lampard admitted that his side were happy to sit deep and allow Celtic onto them as a reaction to the conditions, jetlag, and general fatigue within his squad, despite the vast disparity in resources available to him as a Premier League manager compared to those available to Postecoglou.
The Aussie’s relentless nature and unerring standards are well-known at this point and he makes no apologies for them, they are the foundational ideas upon which Celtic’s recent success have been built on, but his differing reactions to the two defeats are an important reminder of another key principle he holds: looking beyond the scoreboard.
Shorn of their captain and on the receiving end of some truly wretched VAR decisions since its introduction into the Scottish Premiership last month, Celtic have been utterly relentless in the last six weeks, and completely unyielding in their approach, refusing at any point to concede to difficult obstacles and situations.
Though performances have not always been glittering, and there are regrets from the Champions League campaign, the Scottish Premiership remains the ultimate goal of any given season for Celtic, 14 wins from 15 league games in a crammed fixture calendar is excellent work by any conceivable measure.
Though the Sydney Super Cup may have been a disappointment for fans in Scotland, particularly those who stayed up to the wee hours to watch the Everton defeat, Postecoglou has treated the competition the same as he treats every other match Celtic play, and will analyse the team’s performance accordingly.
It’s a pretty fair assertion that the Celtic manager will take far more from his side imposing themselves upon a Premier League side and losing, than he would in Lampard’s shoes, having seen his expensively-assembled side struggle against one from a supposedly-lesser league, edging the match on penalties.
It’s this attitude that has made the Super Cup, and indeed any future showpieces against sides from top five leagues, a worthwhile exercise, not whether Celtic bring home the inconsequential prize awarded to the friendly competition’s winners.
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