Ange Postecoglou can’t be certain that Kyogo Furuhashi will rack up four in a row.
But the Celtic manager can guarantee he’s going to get another top-class display out of the Japanese striker at Hampden. Kyogo heads into the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers on a blistering run of Old Firm form. The fans’ favourite has smashed five goals in his last three games against the Ibrox side, including two at the National Stadium to help his team win the Viaplay Cup Final.
Kyogo already has 29 goals in the bag this term and can become the first in the fixture to score in four successive matches since John Collins almost three decades ago. Postecoglou’s faith in the hitman is unswerving and, while he can’t be sure the striker will again bulge the net, he knows his performance is likely to again be tip-top. He said: “What you’ve done previously has very little relevance to what happens on Sunday. What’s important is that we go out there and play our football and that’s what Kyogo has done whether he was scoring goals or not.
“People were saying before that he’d gone so many games without scoring, so it doesn’t really change anything. That’s what we’ve tried to focus on.
“He works his socks off for the team, he constantly puts himself into areas where he can be a threat to the opposition and he’ll do that at the weekend. Whether that manifests itself in goals for himself or us being able to score because of his work, I’ve got no doubt he’ll get to those levels.
“If the goals come then great, but I’ve got no doubts as to what he’s going to do in terms of his performance. That’s as he’s done always. Putting in one that’s going to help his team.”
Postecoglou believes Celtic will be hard to stop at Hampden if they hit their heights. Last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell disappointed the boss, but he said: “We understand that perfection doesn’t exist. You can’t win every game of football. For us to have been on a very good run for such a long time, how you react to wins is just as important as how you react to a draw like last week.
“Complacency sets in when you just take it for granted. The boys are really good at not taking it for granted and learning and trying to improve.
“Last week is no different. We’ll go into this game with the full knowledge of knowing that again, if we play to the levels we can, we know we are hard to stop. That’s always going to be the key for us.”
Postecoglou’s team were too strong for Rangers at Hampden in February and are unbeaten in the past five derbies. Last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to the Ibrox outfit was their last reverse in the fixture. Rangers won it in extra-time, but Parkhead manager Postecoglou refuted any notions of fitness being an issue on that day as he said: “I don’t think that a team that’s unfit can win a title.
“It was a tight game and to Rangers’ credit, they got the job done in extra-time. They were a strong team last year. It was a team that made the final of the Europa League.
“You don’t bottle it up for 12 months. You use it for the next week and the week after that. At the time that group of players were really bonding together.
“They’d already been through some tough times earlier in the year, but we’d got ahead in the league and turned things around. Part of the progression, and I guess the development of the group, is how you react to times that are not as successful. I thought the group really responded after that game and made sure they finished the season strongly and as champions.
“Those kinds of things you use at that moment. You don’t keep it for the next time you are in that position because, ultimately, you may never be in that position again. We learned from it. The boys took that disappointment on board and have used that ever since to make sure we take every opportunity we can.”
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