Celtic lost to Rangers in yet another dismal Glasgow Derby showing from the Hoops at Ibrox.
Interim boss John Kennedy has now failed to beat our rivals in all three attempts he’s had. Our loss in Govan comes after a 2-0 Scottish Cup exit several weeks ago and a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park.
Most disappointingly, however, it completes a season of total failure against Rangers. We’ve failed to beat them in all five meetings this season – the first time we’ve been guilty of that since John Barnes.
Here, we take a look at three key aspects we learned from today’s derby.
1. John Kennedy makes same old sentimental errors
This was a match in which change was a necessity.
Ismaila Soro, Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti etc were all needing opportunities. Not just because they’ve been out of the team, but because we need to start building for next season.
This should’ve been a derby in which we looked to see what some of the players scheduled to be here next year are all about. Instead, Kennedy again chose his favourites. He selected the same players who have flopped all season.
Yes, we’re talking about the likes of Scott Brown and Odsonne Edouard. The struggling Mohamed Elyounoussi was another who was thrown in despite failing to impress in the last derby. There was nothing about the starting line-up to get excited about.
Unsurprisingly, Brown had another poor game, just like he had in the Scottish Cup derby. Why Soro wasn’t playing in the centre of that park? Especially when we went down to 10 men and needed legs in there.
2. Callum McGregor doesn’t help his captaincy hopes with petulance
When you think of players who were liable to pick up a red card today, Callum McGregor certainly didn’t fall into that bracket.
He’s so often been reliable this season, but today he was anything but. Even when McGregor isn’t performing well, you can always rely on him to at least keep the head. Again – not today.
Nope, McGregor picked up two incredibly naive yellow cards for someone of his experience. His foul on Ryan Kent was clumsy, whilst lunging in to try and win a 50-50 with Glen Kamara was needless. There were no complaints – both were bookings, and Nick Walsh of course didn’t miss the opportunity.
McGregor is currently the vice-captain of the club. With Scott Brown leaving at the end of the season, he’s favourite to take over. He has to show that this was a one-off, because petulance and naivety like that shouldn’t get him anywhere near the armband.
This was our chance to end their invincible league campaign. McGregor, whether it seems harsh or not, played a key role in halting us from doing just that.
3. 10-man Celtic still created plenty of opportunities v Rangers
In terms of positives for next season, there were next to none. However, it was interesting to note how many chances we created against Rangers even with 10 men.
One of the main themes of the recent encounters has been our failure to convert our chances. This has been a major issue in our last three Glasgow derbies in particular.
Today it was again one of the main aspects of our loss, even though we did manage to net in the end. Odsonne Edouard’s header after we went down to 10 men never looked like it was going to be meaningful. Not one Celtic fan will have had the trust in this team to build on that equaliser.
But again we were guilty of spurning major chances in key moments. Edouard was in on at least two further occasions that he couldn’t profit upon. David Turnbull had a glorious opportunity to equalise at 2-2 with a header. Not to mention the glorious opening for James Forrest before the break that he should’ve buried.
Yet again we’re leaving Ibrox thinking we should’ve netted three or four goals ourselves. That’s been the difference this season. They take their chances and we don’t.
In other news, Kennedy claims a study has gone into Celtic’s major Achilles heel.
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