Andy Halliday ‘holds hands up’ to one thing about Celtic vs Rangers he didn’t see coming

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic did not get the job done on Glasgow derby day over the weekend.

It was a poor performance and result to boot for Brendan Rodgers’ side as they fell to a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Rangers in front of a packed out house.

Gers rushed into a 2-0 lead before half-time and despite Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate’s goals to claw back the scoreline, Hamza Igamane’s late winner would stun the home support and frustrate the gaffer.

Rodgers said Celtic missed Callum McGregor on the day but the Irishman also let his squad know the outing was not good enough to avoid using the captain’s absence as the whole story in terms of excuses.

• READ MORE: Rangers player shows Celtic disrespect with immature social media post after derby win

Andy Halliday was shocked Celtic missed Callum McGregor as much as they did vs Rangers

Unsurprisingly, though, McGregor’s injury was also picked up by pundits in their own assessments of the action and Andy Halliday was one who admitted to being surprised at just how much he was missed.

“I’ve got to hold my hands up because I said before the game that I didn’t think Callum McGregor would be as big a miss as what was being portrayed from both sets of supporters,” the former Ibrox midfielder said on Clyde Superscoreboard.

“I had to hold my hands up because he was a huge miss. I think when we spoke after the game about his miss on the ball but I thought he was missed out of possession.

“I can’t remember Arne Engels making a tackle or an interception in the game. Another thing we talk about is Callum McGregor’s leadership in the game, when Celtic lose the early goal it seems they lost all composure for the first 15/20 minutes of the game.

“That’s where you hope for your captain to calm things down, get your foot on the ball, get people around you and be compact. That for me is why he was such a huge miss.”

McGregor’s Celtic record vs Rangers

McGregor’s influence on Celtic’s squad cannot be overstated and the skipper is too important to miss in these big games.

The midfielder, 31, was training alone before the derby to give himself the best chance of featuring but ultimately he was unable to make it on time.

Fans even before the game were worried about McGregor possibly missing the game but it was what Rodgers said at full-time that might have punters worrying about their over-reliance on the man.

The boss said on the whistle: “There is no doubt we missed Callum. I have said before, he gives us real tactical balance in the game. Having to shift a couple of things around.

“But, you see the importance of him and how quickly he gets through. How tactically he is really good for the team, so we missed him.

“I thought we were too rushed in our game. It was too slow and we gave the ball up too cheaply. That was my thinking for the first half.”