Admittedly, there was nothing riding on the result of the recent Glasgow Derby for Celtic. The league is already in the bag for Ange Postecoglou’s side and the only game of real importance left this season for the Hoops is the Scottish Cup final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle next month.
That does not change the fact though that the result at Ibrox is a major disappointment. Celtic lost 3-0 at the hands of the Rangers.
They were not helped by the fact that they had several key players missing and underwent quite a bit of rotation as a result of it. Also, one cannot deny that the Hoops looked like a team that knew nothing was riding on the result of this game.
Postecoglou was brutally honest after the loss to the Rangers. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Celtic manager said while speaking to Sky Sports:
"“It’s fair to say we’re disappointed. We didn’t perform at the levels we needed to today. There were a couple of critical moments where we should’ve got ourselves back into it but we didn’t. In the second half, we were desperate in our play rather than playing our football.“Credit to Rangers. You’re facing a difficult opponent at their venue. The number of changes I made probably didn’t help in terms of some of the guys lacking a little bit of sharpness. At the end of the day, we weren’t good enough.“Every game is a challenge, every game is an opportunity. Whether you’re on a good run or a poor run, it doesn’t mean that a performance has to flow from that. We’ve never felt like just because we’re playing well the next game will go well. We’ve had to work awfully hard at it to maintain those levels and we didn’t get to them today.“It’s fair to say they were a little bit off it today. That’s part of the experience of playing for this football club. It’s relentless. You don’t get any easy introductions, we’ve thrown guys into derbies before that were their first game. It’s how you understand what it is to be a player for this football club. I learn all the time, mate, I never stop learning.”"
Celtic boss sends brutally honest message about loss to Rangers
Every Glasgow Derby is important. No matter what the situation. But at the same time, it is important to look at the bigger picture as well.
Celtic are in a position where they do not need to take any unwanted risks. And thus, it was the right decision to rotate some players, if they needed rest or if there was any doubt about their fitness situation.
At the same time, one would be hoping that the club bounce back from this result, as they have always done over the past couple of seasons till now. While this defeat will hurt in the immediate aftermath, but in the long term it might not mean anything. The important thing is completing a treble this season.
For that, the Bhoys need to make sure that they do not lose momentum heading into the final. It would be a big mistake to take the game or Inverness CT lightly.