Celtic will travel to Ibrox and take on Rangers on Sunday in what’s going to be a colossal Glasgow derby for many reasons.
Firstly you have the usual stuff that comes with this fixture. A burning desire just to win the game for sheer bragging rights alone. The fact that it’s the first derby of the season and a big chance to lay down a marker.
However, for Celtic, this perhaps represents as big an occasion as we’ve had for some time. A chance to firmly put our rivals in their place and show them Celtic are anything but a broken club.
When Rangers stopped 10-in-a-row last season, some over-the-top analysis was being placed on our demise. Some even from many of our own support and even myself. However, the boasting coming from across the city was nauseating.
Many appeared to consistently reference Dave King’s comments of 2018. About how when Celtic would lose a title it would lead to us folding “like a pack of cards” [Sky Sports]. It’s difficult to know where that kind of stuff even comes from.
Postecoglou has proven that it only takes some accurate transfer activity and an injection of freshness to turn football clubs around. Especially one in the financial position of Celtic, who were able to invest heavily this summer.
Celtic are a different animal under Ange Postecoglou; rivals beware
The manager has managed to come in and beefed up the positions that desperately needed extra quality. Not only that, he’s managed to get a tune out of players whose Celtic careers looked dead. The likes of Anthony Ralston and Ryan Christie looked more or less done at Parkhead for differing reasons, yet Ange has managed to turn their displays around.
Rangers fans, meanwhile, expected a cakewalk this season. They expected a battered and beaten Celtic to stumble from slip-up to slip-up. After all, we were supposed to fold after losing the 10. This is now supposed to be a period of sustained Rangers dominance. Just ask the likes of King [The Herald].
They didn’t expect Celtic to come flying out the traps under Postecoglou. The Hoops have rattled home 24 goals in their last six games alone – all of which have ended in victory. We go into Sunday’s derby at Ibrox ahead of Rangers in the league table too.
The likes of Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi, and David Turnbull look primed to punish any defensive lapses they come across. Never have Celtic had a team over the last 18 months or so that’s looked hungrier than this.
And should they pick up the win on Sunday, it’ll put Rangers into a state of embarrassment. Only three months after their title win, it could be Celtic planting the green-and-white flag at Ibrox and making the likes of King’s predictions look hilariously misguided and over-excited.
Celtic definitely have the talent, and there’s obviously the not-so-minuscule task of AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night first. But if Postecoglou’s Bhoys can pull off an Ibrox masterclass, the tables will have turned within weeks. And we all know how Rangers perform when under pressure.
In other news, How Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi has reacted to recent events
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