Celtic fans, look; Ange Postecoglou and the Bhoys are being written off again.
If you look in the usual places, you’ll see some incredible hyperbole. It was if we’d lost 5-0 to St Mirren last night, rather than the disappointment that actually took place. We’re 6 points off the top, and social media braying suggests it’s all over for Celtic. Might as well put blue ribbons on the Premiership now, Ange is a dismal failure, all the rest.
It’s been a whirlwind half-season of Scottish football and yet, the very obvious lessons about Celtic under Ange Postecoglou haven’t been learnt. He loves being doubted, and every time we’ve had a disappointing setback, we’ve rallied in style.
Look at the start of the season. It wasn’t good, with a loss at Tynecastle punctuating the challenge ahead. In our next games, we put four past Jablonec, 6 past Dundee and St Mirren, and got revenge on the Jambos, putting them out of a cup we’d end up winning.
When Bayer Leverkusen slaughtered us, the reaction was emphatic. 5 subsequent wins on the bounce. The draw against Livingston was grim, but it sparked a reaction. Barring a 3-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, which we ought to have won, Celtic haven’t been beaten since. Before yesterday, we won 7 consecutive matches.
Bad results happen sometimes. You can’t win every game. Every time a disappointment has cropped up for Celtic this season, though, it’s sparked a reaction.
Doubting Ange Postecoglou and Celtic seems entirely daft at this stage
Ange Postecoglou has had naysayers in his ear at every turn since arriving at Celtic. His once weak defence has become the most solid in the league. The insistence on playing Tom Rogic and David Turnbull eventually worked out, with the two playing some great stuff in tandem.
He enjoys this, he embraces it. The reaction to the Premier Sports Cup win, in which he bit back at some of the reporters, was extremely enjoyable.
The fact is, he’s not had his problems to seek at Celtic. In some respects, the Cup win and being two wins behind Rangers is something of an achievement. Under lesser management, things could be an awful lot worse, and make no mistake.
On the 1st of October, Ange said [Daily Record]: “I’m really passionate about this and I’m not going to shy away from the fight.
“Bizarrely I love this part of it, which people won’t understand. But I’m hoping that in six months’ time, when they look back, they will know why I have been so resolute and persistent about what we are doing.”
He’s said it the whole time. He embraces the challenge. Every time we’ve gone down, we’ve fought back in style.
So, write Ange Postecoglou and Celtic off all you like.
Read more: Last night showed exactly the kind of player Celtic need to bring to club in January
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
