ANGE Postecoglou may shirk from the word in a football sense but he is nothing if not pragmatic. 

“There will be big consequences on all these games and that’s what you want,” were his thoughts on a forthcoming month that could bring three games against Rangers in quick succession; two league and one William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final. “You want to be playing in front of big crowds, both friendly and hostile, knowing that everything is on the line.” 

An international break will allow him to catch his breath before the whirlwind nature of an intense April takes hold.  Celtic’s season by its very nature would suggest that it has taken careful consideration, planning, pruning and preparing to get them to the point where they currently find themselves from where they were.  

On wobbly legs as they started the campaign they look a team far more sure of themselves than the one that went to Ibrox at the end of August and lost 1-0.  Much of that owes itself to a sequence of results – 31 unbeaten now domestically – that has restored self-confidence and poise to this Celtic side. The reality is, though, that it is tangible success where Postecoglou will be measured. 

“I stopped hoping and wishing when I got out of primary school,” reflected the Greek-Australian drily as he prepared for the finale to the season. 

“We are in a very different place in terms of where we were as a squad and a team [than the Ibrox game in August]. Things were much in their infancy back then but I still thought we played okay on the day. 

“We didn’t win the game but we gave a good account of ourselves and were in it for large parts. A lot of things have happened since then and we are now a different team. 

I think they are a different team too, they have a different manager so it will be a new challenge for us.” 

Rangers’ European run hogged much of the headlines this week with the Ibrox side set to come off their Europa League quarter-final against Braga and straight into the semi-final at Hampden three days later. Postecoglou was inevitably unwilling to indulge in any rhetoric about what that may mean for either side.  

“For me what has been important during this whole process is to make sure that I don’t get de-railed or distracted from what is really important,” said the Celtic manager.  “What is really important for me is what happens behind these four walls here. These are the things we can control. If we play our football and do it well we don’t have to worry about anyone else or hope or wish for anything. 

“It’s about making sure that we are planning to be successful, working hard on the things we can control and not being distracted by the things that others do. 

“The group has proven for a long time now that they are really resilient and embracing the challenges ahead We have one trophy and what that did was give us an appetite for more. We didn’t stop there and say okay, we have the trophy in the bag and it doesn’t matter what happens for the rest of the year.

“Most people would not have expected us to challenge for anything this year potentially so you can take those things two ways. What the cup win did for us was give us a real impetus and give these players an appetite for more.” 

It will be a quiet Lennoxtown this week with players off on international duty which offers scope for further work or a break for those left behind, depending on circumstances. A bouce game is under consideration, something that the likes of David Turnbull and Christopher Jullien could benefit from.  

“There will be a couple like Joe Hart and Cameron Carter-Vickers, who we will just freshen up in the first week,” explained Postecoglou.  “There are others who we will try and get some good work into. We might try and arrange a bounce game too because there a few there who haven’t had a game for a while. 

We’ll look to get some meaningful minutes into those guys and some rest for the others. 

“You do worry about that [injuries on international duty] a little but at the same time injuries can happen here in training. The challenge for us with some of our lads is the travel they have to do and we need to make sure that when they come back we give them the chance to recover.

“I think international football is good for our players, and footballers in general. They get a lot out of it, they come back feeling better and more confident about themselves. And it’s good they get away from the daily rituals we have here, it freshens things up for them.”