The most important job Ange Postecoglou has right now is getting the message across to our team that they have no reason to be approaching games with the nerves which have characterised our most recent displays.
He has to remind them how good they are.
There is a confidence issue, but those are easily solved.
A couple of goals early in a game and you can see things clicking into place again very quickly. Until it does, Ange has vowed to take the pressure off the players and put it on his own shoulders.
What good management that is. There are times when I think I’d love to see a documentary, like the ones on Prime, showing you how this guy works with people behind the scenes. (Then I remember how much dread I felt watching Sunderland Til I Die on Netflix!) I think it would be great to see the way he motivates people and makes them feel good.
I talked the other day about the need for a sports psychology department at Celtic; I would like to think that this is something the club would be looking at. Confidence ebbs and flows in a team; this is normal. But those guys are good at helping players and coaches both develop the right mind-set so that those rises and falls are less precipitous.
In the meantime, it is up to Ange.
Players like Kyogo and Maeda just need to re-discover their shooting boots.
If we take an early lead on Saturday I think the goals will flow. Ange has to make sure that we start the game on the front foot and try to get that strike which would steady the nerves and give people the confidence to be themselves again.
In the last three games we’ve got the woodwork 5 times when the score was 0-0. Couple of those go in and everything changes.