‘One of the problems’ – Ally McCoist explains the real reason Rangers ‘struggled’ to compete with Celtic

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Celtic successfully defended their Scottish Premiership crown despite some disappointing results against Rangers.

The final three Glasgow Derbies of the season saw Celtic pick up just one point from nine after defeats at Ibrox and Parkhead to Philippe Clement and Barry Ferguson.

However, despite that, Celtic still romped the league and ended the season a huge 15 points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

And that has led to Ally McCoist to delves into the reason why Celtic are still so far ahead despite Rangers’ short-term success in the big derby games.

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Ally McCoist admits to ‘one of the problems’ Rangers had keeping up with Celtic

Celtic had a poor record against Rangers in the Glasgow Derbies compared to previous seasons. Even the most hardened Hoops fan will admit that.

However, what Rodgers’ side lacked on those fixtures, they didn’t against the other SPFL teams as Celtic blew most of the competition away.

And that is where McCoist admits his old club failed last season.

McCoist told talkSPORT, “I think one of the problems domestically, against Celtic, Celtic would play them because Celtic would fancy it.

“Nine times out of ten every European team would play open against Rangers because they’d fancy it and Rangers enjoyed that.

“They have one or two good players, can hit you on the counter, they could play about a football. But the other teams that come or sit back and when you’ve got to break them down, they’ll hit you on the counter attack, and I think that’s where they struggled.”

The truth about Celtic vs Rangers games Ally McCoist won’t like

There is an uncomfortable truth Ally McCoist won’t like about the Glasgow Derby fixtures that McCoist won’t like.

When it mattered, in games that meant something, Celtic turned on the style and took care of the Ibrox club.

In the first derby of the season, Celtic beat Rangers 3-0 to lay a marker on the potential Ibrox title challenge.

In the League Cup final, Celtic beat Rangers to lift the cup albeit on penalties in another game that mattered on the day.

By the time the New Year Derby had come around, the league title race was effectively over and with the pressure off, Rangers performed where Celtic didn’t as the job was already done.

Will McCoist ever admit that fact? Probably not.