Former Celtic centre-back Charlie Mulgrew has had a dig at Rangers’ lack of success as he bigged up the Hoops’ title chances.
For many, the league is over. Celtic are 19 points behind our rivals after losing at Ibrox in what was perceived as a must-win game. In the end, despite bossing things, it was Steven Gerrard’s side who took the points.
If you’re being generous, Celtic can’t afford anymore slip-ups. One more and that will surely be that. Regardless, Rangers’ collapses over the past two years have certainly led to question marks over their own mentality.
And that’s exactly what Fleetwood Town star Mulgrew seems to be hanging his hopes on.
Speaking on the Celtic Huddle podcast, Charlie said: “I’m still quite optimistic. If Celtic can go on a run and Rangers slip up a few times .. none of them have won anything in that team.
“Rangers have not won anything and I don’t know if they will be able to sustain that. When you’re getting chased – no matter how many points ahead – if you lose one you start to double guess yourself a wee bit and the pressure mounts.
“It’s going to be hard. Celtic need a run of wins and hopefully Rangers slip up a couple of times and we’ll see where Rangers’ bottle is then.”
Mulgrew spot on; Celtic need to keep asking questions of Rangers
Celtic need to latch onto anything they can for hope. Rangers’ lack of bottle in recent years is one of those aspects we can cling to. We know they struggle under pressure and have proven it over the last two years.
For many, Gerrard’s side is a different animal this season. They don’t look a side that’s going to suffer from mental fragility. Given the fact they’ve won a pretty stupendous 20 of their 22 games, that’s perhaps evidence they’re much stronger looking.
Yet even so, title races can do strange things to clubs. Especially for those who have yet to actually win anything. It adds an extra layer of pressure and perhaps a little extra doubt when things do take a turn.
And things will take a turn of some sort. We saw signs of Rangers’ mental struggles when they lost at St Mirren then got desperately lucky in putting a poor Motherwell side away at Ibrox.
We have to keep asking those questions of Rangers. Beating them at Parkhead and March could be followed by some slip-ups elsewhere. In fact, the Ibrox side have trips to Aberdeen, Hibernian, and Motherwell coming up soon. These are all fixtures we have to be ready to take advantage of if they slip up in them.
There’s no point throwing in the towel just yet.
In other news, 67HH writer Euan Davidson discusses why Celtic’s Dubai trip could cost us for years.
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