Celtic led the way against Rangers; they need others to follow suit

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So if we take the result away from the Rangers vs Celtic game on Saturday, one thing stands out – the performance.

You might get sick of me saying this now. Perhaps it’s just my refusal to accept the situation in the Premiership and look to latch onto any positive I can. But that still doesn’t detract from the fact that Celtic bossed things at Ibrox.

In many ways, it was the performance we needed to see against Rangers. But it wasn’t the result we needed to go with it. We got it half-right, but we were as well not getting any of it right given we still left with nothing.

However, you can bet that managers up and down the country will have been watching. In dressing rooms around the Premiership, the likes of Derek McInnes, Jack Ross, and Alex Dyer will surely have been tuning in. If not, they’ll have been watching it when they got home after their own fixtures.

What they will have seen could help Celtic save the 10. Okay, call it overly-optimistic if you want, but the Hoops showed exactly how to play against Rangers. Even the Ibrox side’s own players have admitted the trouble we caused them (Scottish Sun).

Listen it’s not just as simple as going with a diamond and trying to play with two up top. It’s more than that. You can’t just get 11 men off the street, play with a diamond and beat Rangers.

And I’m fully aware Celtic have much more quality to carry out a game-plan at Ibrox than others. But the likes of Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Hibernian, and Livingston have all proven they can give Rangers solid games. Many of them have still been doing this with a lone-striker whilst giving Rangers time and space on the ball.

Celtic aggression troubled Rangers

But what Celtic did at Ibrox wasn’t rocket science. Their backline was aggressive and tried to read the passes to the strikers to intercept. This is something centre-backs up and down the country can do with the right anticipation.

They then pushed their two strikers high up with an attacking-midfielder almost acting as a third forward out of possession (Turnbull). Sure, we were tidier than other clubs will be in possession in the Premiership. Fair enough. But we were forcing Rangers into mistakes by pressing them high.

It was only after Celtic went down to 10 men and went to one up top that Rangers got any joy. Only after their centre-backs were allowed to strut out from the back and jog up to the centre-circle. That wasn’t happening when we had 11 on the pitch.

When Rangers travel to Easter Road for example, Ross should be doing the exact same thing. He should be pushing Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet as high as possible whilst ensuring Joe Newell is also looking for scraps between the Rangers defence and the centre-circle. They’re good enough to do this and not be punished regularly for it.

Sure, some will say we didn’t cut Rangers open enough. There’s merit in that. But it was through turnovers high up the pitch and accurate passing (along with some smart movement) that got us openings outside the box.

Allan McGregor kept us out on the day. He won’t keep everyone out. If Premiership teams try to copy Celtic’s game-plan they’ll get a lot more glimpses of McGregor’s goal than they have done in previous games. It’s all about pushing high and getting that Ibrox backline under pressure.

It’s going to take plenty of courage, but bravery against this Rangers team will be rewarded. Celtic have shown that’s likely the case. Hopefully Premiership rivals can follow in our lead and help save the 10!

In other news, we discuss why Jullien’s injury makes last Wednesday’s news all the more ludicrous.