Ange Postecoglou has urged Celtic to stay calm in the face of freezing fire.
The Aussie says his team don’t have to change a thing in terms of approach in Bodo tonight having risen to the top of the Premiership and collected a Premier Sports Cup with their all-out philosophy.
Postecoglou also believes it’s why Celtic are even in the Arctic Circle fighting for a last 16 spot in the Europa Conference League.
But, within the excitement and the positivity, the manager has noted recent periods of anxiety and stress.
Moments and situations where he’d like his troops to cope better.
Postecoglou spotted it in the first leg when Bodo/Glimt got their noses in front. Same again when Dundee breached his backline last Sunday in the Premiership.
It’s part of the squad’s learning process, part of their development and growth.
But Postecoglou says there's important lessons to learn.
Heading into the tie against the Norwegians, the boss has told his players to stay relaxed in the face of adversity and not lose their way.
Postecoglou explained: “Yeah, and it’s not easy, because you are dealing with human beings.
“You even saw that on Sunday, there was anxiety there when we conceded a couple of goals, you could sense the crowd getting anxious.
“We’ve just got to believe in what we do here every day and what we’re trying to build.
“To the players’ credit, that’s what they have done for the most part.
“That’s why we’re sitting where we are in the league, why we’ve already won a trophy and we’re still in Europe.
“It’s because the players, most of the time, have found it.
“But we’re dealing with human beings and last Thursday we didn’t deal with that well in moments of the game.
“I think the context of it was that they scored early and that made us a little anxious about it. We’ve just got to stay really focused and really calm through that process.
“That’s what we spoke about, we got ourselves back into the game, they then scored a third goal from the deflection.
“Those are the things that happen in football, you just have to stay calm.
“If there was a lesson out of that game, it is that we don’t need to get too anxious or too frustrated if things aren’t working out.
“We can find solutions, as we have in other games, by playing our football.
“Talking to the players afterwards, they understand that. And for a lot of them this is all part of the experience.
“A key part of experience is living something, not talking about something.
“So I can talk to them about what these things are like, but they have to go and do it themselves and that’s how we get growth.
“I’m sure they know it and a lot of the lads will have grown from what happened last week.”
Postecoglou understands it’s work in progress. He admits himself his team has a long way to go before they are the finished article.
He continued: “I think you learn every week. I’ve said all along that we’re still a team that’s developing.
“Other people have tried to push us into this place where we’re well down the line in terms of the potential of this team, but we’re still putting things together.
“You’re going to have times where things don’t go to plan. So, we learn every week, we learned something out of Sunday’s game.
“Last week, they were a lot more efficient in the box than we were. We had plenty of opportunities that we didn’t take, they had less opportunities and took them.
“At the same time, that’s not an area we’ve struggled in this year. We’ve scored a lot of goals.”
Postecoglou’s team will need their attacking threat tonight as they try to salvage their treacherous situation.
Realistically, the back door of a team which has lost 25 goals in 13 Euro ties needs to stay bolted in Norway.
But Postecoglou will stay on the front foot and said: “I guess from my perspective it’s why we approach football the way we do and why we are that kind of team.
“We haven’t changed our approach all the way through, so it’s not about having confidence, we just know that we have to go there and play our football.
“That’s why I want us to be the team we are, so that when these challenges come we don’t have to change.
“Obviously to score three goals away from home and to deny the opposition is not an easy task.
“It’s a good challenge for us, but I think from our perspective it’s not so much about confidence, it’s about knowing we have to go there and play our football because that’s what is going to help us achieve our targets.
“That’s all part of the development. We understand these different levels. We’ve conceded goals in Europe when the opposition have punished us for lapses in concentration.
“Within that, I don’t think we’re ever going to be a team that doesn’t concede goals. Hopefully, we’re a team who scores more than we concede.
“We could have gone through those games and found out nothing about ourselves, it’s just not my approach.
“I know that doesn’t sit comfortably with a lot of people who look at football differently, but I don’t see those kind of things as negatives.
“Our approach will always be to test ourselves and then see what the outcomes are.”
