Ange Postecoglou has stressed that the chance to join the treble-winning Celtic managers is far too important to allow talk of his future to disturb his focus on Saturday’s Scottish Cup final.
Beating cinch Championship side Inverness at Hampden will give Postecoglou’s team a clean sweep of domestic trophies and make it five out of six available since he arrived from Yokohama F Marinos in Japan in June 2021.
But much of the build-up to the game has been dominated by increased speculation over Postecoglou’s future amid reports the former Australia head coach is Tottenham’s preferred managerial candidate.
The 57-year-old said: “Somebody else was favourite last week, wasn’t he? So, it doesn’t register.
“I get all the interest and why people love to speculate on these things. But we have worked really, really hard to get ourselves into this position and, for me to let my mind wander about anything else than getting our team prepared for a big day on Saturday, is just not who I am.”
Postecoglou has been linked with numerous Premier League clubs this season including Leeds, Everton, Brighton, Crystal Palace and Chelsea so he feels no need to address his players on the matter.
“You are making it sound as if it’s the first time this has happened to me,” he said. “We have done this dance a few times this year. The players are well aware of where my thoughts lie.
“The players have been really good at focusing on what’s important. What’s important is being ready for a big game on Saturday.
“I have handled it before and I’ll handle it the same way. It doesn’t enter my sphere of thinking because my role is to make sure the team is absolutely prepared for what the next challenge is.
“If a cup final isn’t enough to draw all my attention to that, then nothing will be.”
The former Australia head coach, who is on a 12-month rolling contract, also dismissed questions over whether he had talks planned with the club hierarchy.
“No, because again that would mean me planning, organising, thinking about things other than Saturday,” he said.
“Look, I understand that’s your job to ask these questions because that’s the role you are in, but you are not invested in this football club like I am, like the players are, like our supporters are.
“I woke up this morning thinking about one thing, the same thing I have been thinking about for the last five days. I really want to make sure that we play well in this cup final and make it a truly special season.
“I know this football club has had a lot of success recently including trebles but over the history of time there aren’t too many that can claim to that. Not just for myself but for some of these players, it might be the only one they get. So we need to focus on that.
“It’s a massive role to be manager of this football club and for me to be dismissive of potentially our biggest game of the year is just not going to happen.”
Postecoglou could emulate Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon in winning the treble and is relishing the experience of Scottish Cup final day, after losing to eventual winners Rangers in last year’s semi-finals.
“Obviously it was the one trophy that escaped us last year and just the whole day, the occasion, it’s the last game on the calendar and just to be part of it was the first thing we were excited about,” he said.
“Back home the English FA Cup final followed by the Scottish FA Cup was kind of tradition – that was our Saturday night in May. We would religiously watch that, it was a bit of an event for us to sit around and watch those two games.
“It’s not just that it’s a cup final, it’s the occasion, the last game, there is always more about it, just the ceremony of the day. You would love to be a part of it.
“I didn’t watch it last year, so that goes to show that we were still hurting from the fact we weren’t there.
“Now we are there and that’s why we want to make the most of it.”
Postecoglou is also well aware of the history between the two finalists. Inverness have beaten Celtic in three of their seven Scottish Cup meetings, including the only one at Hampden, in the 2015 semi-finals, and in the first one, when then First Division Caley Thistle caused a huge upset which cost John Barnes his job.
“It’s a cautionary tale, put it that way,” Postecoglou said. “It has been mentioned to me a few times, I was aware of it anyway of course.
“But that’s what I am talking about. When people think that I’ve got other things on my mind, that I’d allow anything to enter the sphere where we are not preparing ourselves for that occasion… I don’t want to be that story.
“I want it to have a different ending this time. I want us to be the winners and us to claim the Scottish FA Cup, so that’s where my head’s at.”
Philippe Clement urges Rangers to rediscover their composure for Hearts cup semi
Philippe Clement is adamant under-pressure Rangers will focus fully on playing to their own strengths in Sunday’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final with Hearts.
The Ibrox side head into the Hampden showdown on the back of a damaging run of two wins from their last eight games in all competitions, with their cinch Premiership title bid having been dented significantly by a return of just two points from their last three matches.
Hearts, by contrast, go into the match buoyed by back-to-back wins over St Mirren and Livingston and are 11 points clear of their nearest rivals in their quest to secure third place in the table.
Clement dismissed any notion that his side must adapt their game-plan in any way to deal with Steven Naismith’s on-form team and instead must simply attempt to play their own game to a higher standard than they have been recently.
“I don’t counter anything,” he said. “We will play our own game, we don’t need to counter another team.
“We are going to play our own game and believe in ourselves and show our qualities.
“To win we need a better performance than we had on Wednesday (in the 0-0 draw at Dundee), for sure. We need to do the right things against Hearts who have played a very good season.
“It’s a very interesting test for the players and I know they are all hungry to go to the final. They’ve had the experience of going to a final and winning it (the Viaplay Cup) and some of them have won several already so the mood is big.”
Clement felt some anxiety crept into Rangers’ play on Wednesday and caused them to go too direct, so he has called for them to rediscover their composure when in possession.
“Against Dundee we were too direct so we lost the balance in that way,” he said. “Sometimes we wanted to play too fast and it’s finding that good balance by showing it with images and what we need to do and take lessons out of that.
“Maybe the hunger was too big to go too fast forward. We need to find a good balance and do that in a better way against Hearts.”
Rangers have been subjected to ferocious criticism recently and Clement admits he will find out a lot about his players in terms of how they respond under pressure in the coming weeks.
“It is easy to be good and be happy when it goes easy,” he said. “It is when the going gets tough you see the personality and the character.
“Players can grow in this. It is a growing experience. It is not only from nature that you have this, you can grow in that.
“That is an important part of being part of this club. It is also something that Nils (Koppen, director of football recruitment) knows really well, it is something to look at in recruitment also.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva will continue to demand more from Andreas Pereira as the Brazilian looks to maintain his form heading into the closing weeks of the Premier League season.
Pereira scored both goals in Fulham’s 2-0 victory at West Ham last weekend, which was a first win in four matches.
The former Manchester United attacking midfielder had not found the net since August, but is top of Fulham’s assists with eight so far.
The consistency of Pereira, who was born in Belgium, has seen him recalled into the Brazil national team, featuring in both March friendlies against England at Wembley and then Spain.
Silva feels the 28-year-old, who had a successful loan spell at Flamengo before signing for Fulham in the summer of 2022, still has plenty more to offer.
“Andreas, last season made a huge impact. Before he joined us, he played more as a second midfielder and not so offensive,” the Fulham boss said.
“This season, he is going to have one of the best assist records for us – and we will demand more.
“Last week, he showed the desire to arrive in the right areas.”
Fulham host Liverpool on Sunday looking to further dent the Reds’ ambitions.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta and also slumped to what could prove a costly home defeat against Crystal Palace to lose ground in the Premier League title race.
Fulham have pushed Liverpool in each of their three meetings this season, being narrowly edged out 4-3 after a dramatic finish at Anfield in their league match at the start of December followed by what was a tight Carabao Cup semi-final over two legs.
“Probably some of them (have been) too open for a manager to enjoy, but yes, at Anfield and at the Cottage as well, they have been really – in some moments – emotional games, in other moments entertaining,” Silva said at a press conference.
“Tight games always, in some of them dramatic ends of the match. But even last season, it was really tough for them to come to play at Craven Cottage (in the) Carabao Cup this season, too.”
Silva added: “We want to make life really difficult for Liverpool, to give them a match.
“Let’s hope we can get a different result than the last games that we played against them.
Fulham could yet challenge for a top-10 finish.
“I think we are in the best moment of the season,” Silva said. “We haven’t had big injuries in the last month and a half, or two months.
“It, of course, creates a competition inside our squad that helps myself and the players to reach a different level and good headaches for me to decide, which is always the better situation to plan a game and prepare for the next game.”
Jurgen Klopp: Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota give Liverpool ‘a chance’
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota gives their title hopes a much-needed boost.
Defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend saw Klopp’s side drop to third as Manchester City moved into a two-point lead at the top of the table.
But with results faltering, the performance by Alexander-Arnold in the Europa League win over Atalanta, particularly in the first half, has offered renewed hope.
The defender was making his first start since mid-February after a knee injury and, while Jota has yet to have the same impact in three relatively short substitute appearances after a similar two-month lay-off, the clinical nature of his game could offset some of the deficiencies currently being experienced by his fellow forwards.
“We need Trent Alexander-Arnold, of course, but we need him in a really good shape and form and that’s what he has to get up to,” said Klopp ahead of the trip to Fulham.
“It’s not about him and it’s not his fault if he wouldn’t be, it’s just the situation. So how quick can we get him rolling if you want – the same for Diogo.
“We have to find a way to help the boys in the best way, to bring them as quick as possible into their best form or shape and from there we have to go.
“Without them we wouldn’t have a chance. With them we have a chance, with them in a really good football moment the chance gets bigger and bigger.”
Klopp remains positive about their chances despite recent failures and feels six wins could see them snatch the title from the grasp of their rivals.
Although a Europa League exit on aggregate was disappointing there were positives to take from the game.
Alexander-Arnold’s display, drifting infield to dictate play and even popping up in the centre-forward’s position on occasions in Bergamo, was one and a first clean sheet in 10 matches was another.
With struggles up front continuing – Liverpool have scored only two goals in the opening 15 minutes in a league game this season – a more solid backline offers a better platform and that is why Klopp is optimistic.
“I don’t have a lot of qualities but I am always completely honest. If I don’t feel great the players feel it pretty quickly,” he said.
“I cannot really deny or just keep it under the carpet so that means after the game against Palace people ask ‘What do you tell the team now?’.
“But here we are a few days later and I feel absolutely great, I see the good in the situation where we are. It is fantastic.
“The boys know that I don’t tell them things which I don’t believe in and I am 100 percent sure we can really win all of the games we will have to from now on.
“What should influence us more: the last game, the last week or is it the chance in front of us?
“I am fully (of the opinion) that there is a next chance for us and we can turn things absolutely around in all departments. We can make it still an outstanding season.
“It will be a good season but of course how you look at it is in the end is massively influenced by the last part of it.”
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