Ange Postecoglou Doesn’t Need To “Sharpen” Celtic By Engaging In Media Back And Forth.

Lee Johnson, whose side were well beat today, decided to use his after match press conference to make excuses for the dire performance of his club, and one of the means he chose to adopt was to have a go at Ange’s comments from Friday.

“It didn’t sit well with me but I don’t know how it was framed to him. That was not the intention or the tone. But we all know how a nibble is seduced by the wrong context,” he said, rather bizarrely. I have wracked my brain on that one and have no idea what it actually means.

There was no such ambiguity over the next bit.

“I have nothing but respect for Celtic, Ange Postecoglou and everyone else. But maybe he’s used it as a bit of a sharpener for his own team.”

Ha! Maybe Ange used stupid people and bitter people’s critiques of this team to get a rise out of them. This team which has won all but two league fixtures. This team which plays under pressure in every match. This team which is lean, hungry and determined to win so much so that the mantra for the whole club right now is “we never stop.”

But we need this? We require media controversy to give us that extra edge?

You know, and I know, that there are clubs and managers who do need this kind of stuff, or think they do. The clubs need it, in fact, because the managers do and the managers need it because they are totally lacking in ideas anywhere else.

Most bosses who resort to trying the old “siege mentality” nonsense don’t have much else in the locker. Ange’s bag of tricks is a little more sophisticated than that. His skill-set is a little more nuanced.

The man does not need these cheap tricks.

The fact that Hibs manager sees the game that way perhaps explains why, even with Hearts dropping points everywhere, that it’s Aberdeen who stand the best chance of taking third place from them.

Hibs had the same opportunity, but all this nonsensical naval gazing, all this looking for excuses, all this whinging about what they can’t do has wrecked any chance of them doing anything this season at all.

It’s a tragic situation for that club to be in.