Originally published at: Ange Postecoglou reacts to a deeply disappointing day for Celtic
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has given his thoughts on today’s semi-final defeat to Rangers. The Bhoys lost out 2-1 after extra-time despite going ahead in the match through Greg Taylor. It means there’ll be now be no hallowed treble this year but the manager is keen to move on and ensure that his squad finish…
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Much as it’s never a good thing to lose to our Glasgow rivals, it’s only the cup we’ve been knocked out of.
That cup does not guarantee Champions League football nor the potential kitty that comes from winning the domestic league championship.
Like many have said, take this game as a small reality check and focus on the main trophy we want back. It’s well within our grasp and would get rid of the “deeply disappointing” feelings coming from our cup semi-final loss 
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Disappointing though it is this Season was never about Cups ,Trebles or Europe it was always about rebuilding and closing the gap on our biggest rivals.
Securing a League and Cup double off the back of last Season with what is basically a full squad rebuild whilst competing against a side who are in the latter stages of Europes second best Competition is frankly a miraculous achievement in itself.
Rangers have proven to be no mugs over 90 minutes after all and delivered when it mattere against decent opposition in Europe.
The best team won on the day and is often the case in Cup ties you cannot afford to be second best on the day.
The ref as Jock Stein maintained should be an irrelevance regardless.
Perhaps defeat in the Cup will remove any hint of complacency that might be in the minds of some within our squad.
A double this Season sets you up nicely for a Treble in the next after all 
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We won 5 and drew 1 of our next six matches domestically after getting knocked out of Europe in February. It was a good reaction IMO and I think the squad will turn up against County.
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We need to remember this dreadful performance would have been a draw if it was a league game and a draw in two weeks time might be enough to win us the biggest prize.
We need to forget the treble and give us a treble of victories over the huns this season and we will be in the champions league proper.
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F**k a draw lets skelp these huns like last time at Cellic Park. HH
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Leipzig will be tough for them too. HH
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Read it mickbhoy Give us a treble of wins over the huns which means beat them again for the third time this season.
Everything about that game was awful, the pitch was cut up, the ref was gutless & just all around bad as were his assistants, we played our worst game in months, they weren’t actually that much better (just dirtier & with a ref that was too wimpy to take his cards out), their best is just better than our average.
They can’t perform much better than that. We can. Their potential for growth & improvement is nowhere near as large as ours, they will remain where they belong, behind us.
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There is way more scope for decline for them this Summer unless they somehow manage to get access to the Champions League.
Numerous players are now on the slippery slope age wise and are not going to get any better.
Souttar for example is not an improvement on Goldson ,Unless they sign Seigrist I don’t see the replacement for McGregor (a keeper I rate highly ) being an upgrade without spending big.
Davis is like Brown on the back end of his career and will not keep up with our Attack.
Arfield again is in decline and used as an impact sub under Van Transit.
They are going into a Summer of needing to rebuild as we were last Summer.
Difference being we have money to do so they simply don’t.
Denying them direct access to Champions League Football and the Financial windfall could seriously jeopardise that rebuild.
In fact it could well initiate the need for a fire sale in order to recoup funds to rebuild.
So again you are losing your best Assets in order to fund replacing them with unknown potential.
At Celtic we know just how difficult that can be having just spent the best part of a decade operating in this manner.
It’s even more difficult now of course as every Club is now trading in the same manner out with the big spenders so these hidden gems are getting tougher to find.
Luckily we had a Manager come in who knew the Japanese Gem market 
Winning the League is vital for both Celtic and The 2angers as the impact on both going forward is massive.
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