Ange Postecoglou insists the will to win is hardwired into Celtic's DNA and there is NO chance his injury-hit Hoops will play for a point against Rangers.
The Parkhead boss will go into today’s Old Firm showdown without Reo Hatate after the playmaker joined Liel Abada, James Forrest and Anthony Ralston on the sidelines. Aaron Mooy and Greg Taylor have been passed fit though and Celts will be going out all guns blazing in a bid to bag three points. A share of the spoils would maintain the champions' nine point advantage with just seven games to go.
But Postecoglou said: “It’s fair to say we won’t be playing for a draw. Why wouldn’t we want to win a game of football? I never have thought that before. If there’s a game, I want to win it. That will be the case this weekend irrespective of what it means beyond this. You want to win every game you are involved in. That’s all we will be trying to do.”
Postecoglou shut down suggestions today’s showdown is more vital to Rangers as they bid to keep their title hopes alive. He said: “I don’t know what it means to anyone else, only what it means to us.
“We go out to win every game. You embrace that when you come into this club. We’ve only lost once this season, which I am constantly reminded of, so I completely understand what the expectations are here.
“It means every bit as much to us. We want to have a mindset that we are a team that wants to win every game.
“That’s the kind of football we want to play, irrespective of the opponent or whether we are at home or away. We play to win and play our football.”
Postecoglou is going all out but he insisted the title race WON"T be done and dusted if Celtic come out on top in the derby. He said: “What is at stake? Three points, mate. I don’t say that flippantly, but nothing gets decided this weekend, regardless of the outcome.
“If we do win it puts some distance between us and second and that can have a bearing on the end of the season. But nothing gets decided this weekend. We have been very good at focusing on what the challenge is in front of us.
“What’s before us now is the team who are closest to us in the table. We have an opportunity at home to extend that lead and that’s what we will try to do. At the end we will see if that brings a result and a performance.”
Postecoglou admitted it was a big blow losing Hatate for the crunch clash – but he has faith in his squad to produce the goods. He said: “We’ve had a good training week and we’re looking forward to it.
“I’m disappointed for Reo more than anything else, as he loves playing in these games. He’s played well in these games and he’s always had an impact.
“But we have Aaron back and we have some good quality in the midfield area. We’ll have a team out there that can do the job.
“That’s been the case all along. Even when we’ve had everyone healthy, it’s still taken players coming into the games and making an impact.
“The lads have embraced the fact that everyone is required, whether you are starting one week and not the next, or whether you are coming off the bench. It’s more than just me selecting a side.
“They train hard everyday and I tell them, ‘just be ready to play’, whether that's 90, 60, 30 or 10 minutes – make an impact. That’s why we have done so well for so long.
“You see it every week and again last week. Sead Haksabanovic, Alexandro Bernabei, David Turnbull, Oh, they all came on and helped us. It’s easy to say in hindsight we were comfortable, but it was 1-0 and they came on and if they hadn’t performed to those levels, we could have slipped.
“They improved our performance and we will need that again this weekend. “It will be a really tough contest and the guys who come on will be as important as the ones who start."
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