For the last 10 months, we’ve been a club that, despite its success, still has a major question to answer.
The Premiership title found its way back to Paradise, whilst the Scottish Cup will hopefully follow in the next couple of months. Even to kick-start this season we’ve found ourselves with the title initiative already. It’s been a successful year for the club generally, albeit the pandemic has made it an unusual one.
However, even so, there was still an annoyance at the season being halted before a Glasgow derby at Ibrox. It was Celtic’s chance to show that last December’s 2-1 defeat at Parkhead was nothing more than a bad day at the office. A chance to show we had learned from previous mistakes.
But most interestingly – a chance to know if we had found a solution to Scott Brown’s poser after that dismal loss at Celtic Park.
Speaking after the defeat to Steven Gerrard’s side, Brown said as quoted by the Scottish Sun: “Rangers played quite well. They closed us down and we didn’t play as well as we could have. We need to learn now, because that’s two games in a row now where they have probably outplayed us.
“They closed the middle of the park, as they always do when they play against us, and we couldn’t get our wingers into the game quickly enough. We’ll figure out how we’re going to play against Rangers the next time and we’ll bounce back.”
So how should we change things this time around?
One of the most frustrating aspects of watching us against Rangers last time was how much onus was put on switching the play. Long balls to the likes of Boli Bolingoli and Jeremie Frimpong which just didn’t work due to their lack of power.
Rangers feel they have a way of playing against us. Crowding us out in the middle of the park and using their tenacity to win the second balls and put us on the back foot more often than not. Frustratingly it’s working too often though.
That should see us again put the onus on width. This is a Rangers defence that clearly crumbles when it has to deal with dangerous deliveries into their penalty area. Over the last 12-13 months, it’s no surprise that our goals have either come from the wide areas, cross balls, or from quick counter-attacks.
That again has to be the plan. Use Frimpong and Diego Laxalt, but try and find ways to get them in behind that don’t just involve long diagonals. We need to keep the ball on the deck as much as possible against this Rangers side. They’ll thrive better if we turn it into an aerial battle.
From there, it’ll be about good crosses into the penalty area. For all of the positive play James Tavernier and Borna Barisic produce going forward, they’ve been suspect at the back throughout their Rangers careers. Look at how Hibs exploited them down either side in their recent trip to Easter Road.
We have to focus on what we’re good at whilst keeping the ball away from the areas Rangers will look to swarm us in. Here’s hoping Saturday goes a lot differently than the last meeting.
In other news, a Celtic invincible has again left his Premier League club on loan.
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