Former Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson has been forced to hold his hands up as he paid credit to Celtic’s “immense” Glasgow derby success at Ibrox.
Celtic are now 6 points clear at the top of the standings after a huge win over our rivals on Sunday. It puts the Scottish Premiership title well within our grasp even if there’s still work to be done.
The big question mark that hovered the Hoops heading into Sunday was whether we could stand up to Rangers’ intensity defensively. However, Ange Postecoglou’s men defended superbly as a unit and repelled a host of crosses into the penalty area.
It was an incredibly controlled display from Celtic in the end, and even Ferguson has had to amdit that it’s the best he’s seen Celtic defensively all season.
Speaking via his Daily Record column, Ferguson said: “Celtic were also emptying the tank, they gave everything and it’s the best I’ve ever seen them defending their own box. How many times did a green and white jersey climb to head balls clear? I lost count.
“You have to admit they were exceptional in the way they coped in the air as their penalty box was swamped for long spells in that second half.
“Credit where credit’s due, they were excellent in defending their own box and their desire not to concede was immense. “
Barry Ferguson can’t help but hide his own admiration for Celtic performance
Nobody who watched the game on Sunday could say anything other than it was a deserved victory. Defensively we’re receiving plenty of plaudits and rightly so, but the win was also built on more than just clearing our own penalty.
Giorgos Giakoumakis, for example, showed tremendous striker’s play as he held the ball up superbly throughout. He had the Rangers backline absolutely rattled and it showed in the second half as the Ibrox side lost the rag.
It was clear Rangers had one real strategy of attack. They tried to get the ball down either flank and get dangerous deliveries into the penalty area. The problems for them was that they didn’t have a single player capable of competing with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt for those duels.
And then you had the middle of the park. Celtic refused to go long to Giakoumakis throughout the match and instead tried to rely on their technical ability to move the ball around in the middle of the park. The idea was clearly to try and get the likes of Daizen Maeda and Jota in behind the Ibrox backline, and it worked on several occasions.
Coming away from this match, it wasn’t a narrow victory that Celtic were lucky to take. It was a controlled performance that, on another day, could’ve ended 3 or 4-1 to the Hoops.
It’s no wonder even rival pundits are having to give us plaudits. We’ve left them absolutely no other option.
In other news, Celtic youth talent impressing Lennoxtown coaches; “doing really well” in first-team training
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