After the dust has settled on the fourth Glasgow Derby of the season, we are now left with pundits and ex-pros picking over the bones of the result.
And to be honest, that’s a part of this job I really enjoy. Reading other people’s opinions on how the game panned out is very interesting.
As a Celtic fan, it is easy to look at our team’s performances through green-tinted spectacles and no matter how hard you try to be impartial, there will be a slight bias in how you perceive the game.
In an effort to remain balanced, I try to re-watch our games as sometimes you can get carried away in the emotion of the event. Especially a Glasgow Derby.
Which makes reading Barry Ferguson’s take on how he viewed Celtic not being at their best on Saturday that bit more perplexing.
Writing in his column in the Daily Record, Ferguson said, “Beale proved to me at the weekend that he knows how to set his team up tactically against Celtic because, for long spells, the high-intensity, aggressive approach knocked them out of their normal stride.
“They were rattled by the way in which Rangers were pressing them and harassing them all over the pitch and it showed in the number of slack passes and sloppy mistakes that they made.
“Even when they managed to play their way through the initial press from Alfredo Morelos or Malik Tillman, they were pounced upon by Ryan Jack and Nicolas Raskin who worked their socks off for the team in the middle.
“Honestly, the game plan worked. It was exactly how I wanted to see Rangers set about their rivals, matching their energy levels and getting in a few faces.
“That’s the secret to winning these matches and it’s precisely the way Beale will go about his business on April 30 when the last silverware of the season goes on the line.”
Now, I have watched the game again and countless highlights but I just didn’t see what Ferguson saw.
I definitely saw a Celtic side that was not at its best. I also saw a Celtic side that was slack in possession but not because of Rangers and their set-up, we just seemed uncharacteristically nervous.
I thought Ryan Jack and Nicolas Raskin were fairly anonymous during the game. Even the BBC player ratings thought both players were well below par with Jack rated at 4.35 and Raskin at 4.70.
Ferguson said that getting in Celtic’s faces and matching their energy levels was the secret to winning these Derbies.
I would suggest the scoreline and the overall stats of the game say otherwise. [Sky Sports].
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