Chris Sutton believes that Micky Beale is still suffering from his failed attempt at mind games.
Calling Ange Postecoglou lucky is something that still jars with the Celtic boss even though he rarely responds to the comments of opposition bosses.
Before February’s Viaplay Cup Final it seemed that Beale’s players were on the same script, topped off by Fashion Sakala going on about The Other Mob.
When you come out with those lines you have to deliver on the park, as Beale discovered post-Hampden his club’s supporters don’t react well to being let down.
At Hampden there was a 50-50 ticket split for a match played on a dubious surface. Today all of the outside factors swing Celtic’s way with 60,000 home fans baying to see Beale and his squad given a reminder of which club is the dominant force in Glasgow.
In less than two seasons Postecoglou appears to have mastered the main fixture on the Scottish card with Sutton telling Daily Record readers that it is time for Beale to deliver answers and results on the pitch:
You look back at all the talk before that League Cup Final and the lucky manager stuff and a whole lot else and he left Hampden with his tail between his legs as his team simply did not turn up until the green and white ribbons were already being tied to the silver.
I don’t know if the lucky stuff was just an attempt to win over some of the Rangers supporters, but I think it was a massive mistake and I think Beale would now admit it was a mistake as well.
It was disrespectful to a manager who has a track record over more than 25 years. If he has learned from that, then all well and good.
More importantly, he needs to learn from Hampden. I think that defeat really hurt him and Rangers and, once again in the build up to this one, we’re hearing players talking about the gap not being not that big.
They have to prove that and they Beale has to prove that. The performance at Ibrox in January was better, but the fact of the matter is Celtic didn’t turn up for the last hour of an away Old Firm game and still Rangers couldn’t beat them.
We’ve heard it all before about new Rangers managers raising the standards, we’re going to bring back the brogues and the suits and whatever. Then they lose and the banners are out and the fans are up in arms again.
That’s how important these games are and Postecoglou has mastered them. He knows he’s got Rangers right where he wants them.
Beale’s team need to come up with something special. These are the games you are judged upon and the million dollar question is are Rangers good enough to take on Celtic?
Most observers going into it would suggest no. So it’s up to Beale to change that narrative or else Postecoglou will tonight be toasting a fourth trophy out of five since moving to Celtic.
A Celtic win puts Celtic 12 points ahead with seven matches left to play- with even more pressure on Beale for the Scottish Cup semi-final in three weeks time.
