He said: “Our message this week is the same as every other week.

“The result was disappointing but we have gone through our analysis and moved on pretty quickly because we have a game coming round the corner.

“With no midweek game, it means we can train a bit more and after the extra-time the boys that played needed a couple of extra days for recovery.

“From our perspective, nothing has really changed whether we won last week or we didn’t.

'Our process will still be the same and that is to give feedback from the previous performance and then move on pretty quickly - we’ve done that all year.'

“I understand the result was disappointing last week and it meant we were out of the cup, but in terms of the league nothing changed for us after the weekend.

“We know there are five games to go beginning this weekend, and each is going to bring its own unique challenge and we need to be ready.”

These final five games are what the team have been building towards all season, as they look to achieve their ambitions and reclaim the league title.

It’s inevitable that the anxiety levels increase amongst supporters at this time of the year, but Ange Postecoglou believes the pressure is no different now to at any other point of the season.

“I understand that’s where the mindset is,” he added, “but within our group and what we’ve been doing, we’ve never approached the season in that manner.”

“After round six, that’s when the pressure was on because we knew we had to be pretty perfect to make sure we were in a position to challenge for the league.

'That’s where we are now, in that position, and we have five games to go and we’re in a strong position in terms of the table and our performances.'

“That’s all we need to focus on, I don’t think anything else becomes important.

“From the players’ perspective, what they feel and how they behave, I haven’t seen any significant changes.

“Obviously they were disappointed after last week but as I said, irrespective, it wouldn’t change our challenge this week as we have a different competition and objectives.”

Manager: Pressure is no different now to at any other stage of the season