Celtic's Derby Mentality: Baur's Call for Energy Over Tactics
Mika Baur insists Celtic will not win Sunday’s derby with “beautiful football and nice play” – and says the Old Firm will be decided by mentality and raw energy rather than tactics.
Martin O’Neill’s side were dismantled 3-0 by Rangers in the League Cup at Ibrox last weekend, a bruising defeat that stripped away any illusions about where this rivalry is won.
Now the same opponents meet again, this time at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership. The setting could hardly be more different. The stakes feel exactly the same.
From hostile Ibrox to a one-sided roar at Parkhead
Baur has already had a crash course in what this fixture means.
“You could feel it's a special thing there [Old Firm game],” the midfielder said of last weekend’s trip across the city. “It was like 50,000 people against you, you should handle that.”
They didn’t. Rangers fed off the noise, Celtic folded, and the League Cup door slammed shut.
On Sunday, the volume turns in Celtic’s favour. No away support. No blue corner. Just a wall of green and white.
“And on Sunday it's completely different,” Baur said. “We have 60,000 on our side, so we should use that. We need everyone.
“We players will give 100 per cent on the field and we need everybody else to get that energy back and win on Sunday.”
“You will not win it with beautiful football”
Baur’s message cuts through any talk of style points or tactical tweaks. For him, the lesson from Ibrox is brutally simple.
“I've said a couple of times now, stick together again, get the energy level really, really high on Sunday,” he said. “You will not win it with beautiful football and nice play.
“Maybe you will score through it, but you will win the game on Sunday with a mentality and with energy and that's what everybody should bring into the match.”
He is not dismissing Celtic’s identity. He knows what this team is built to do.
“Sure you want to win. That's the first thing and in a couple of months, no one asks how you won. You want to play attractive football, if you want to do good with the ball, against the ball.
Tactics are really important, but as we all saw last Sunday, it was not about that. It was about tackling back, to run back. It was about that and we should bring that on Sunday.
“You don't want to stop playing good with the ball.
“It's more about the energy, it's more about the mentality on Sunday, but it should be a good mix.”
After the humbling at Ibrox, Celtic know they cannot afford another lesson in what this derby really demands. On their own turf, with 60,000 voices at their back, there is nowhere left to hide.
