The new Rangers manager has barely arrived at Ibrox and Sunday already feels loaded with pressure. Celtic are not simply chasing another Glasgow Derby victory. They are pushing Rangers towards a league statistic tied to one of the club’s bleakest modern periods.
Rangers head into the clash with Celtic after defeats against Motherwell and Hearts. The optimism that followed the managerial change has quickly been replaced by questions over how quickly the side can steady itself.
No manager at Rangers gets time away from scrutiny, especially before a match against Celtic. Results shape the mood immediately and another defeat would drag unwanted history back into the conversation.
That is the real danger surrounding Sunday. If Celtic win, Rangers will suffer three consecutive Scottish Premiership defeats for the first time since Pedro Caixinha’s disastrous spell in 2017.
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Danny Röhl is walking into immediate pressure at Rangers
Danny Röhl inherited a difficult situation the moment he accepted the Rangers job. Consecutive league defeats have already damaged confidence and Celtic now arrive with another opportunity to expose Rangers in a fixture that has already caused problems for the new manager.
Röhl has still failed to beat Martin O’Neill’s Celtic in the matches carrying the most pressure. Rangers lost 3-1 in the League Cup semi-final before falling 4-2 in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, with Celtic again delivering when the pressure is on.
That is why Sunday already feels significant despite Röhl’s short time in charge. Another defeat would not only extend Rangers’ losing league run, it would deepen the feeling that Celtic continue to handle the major occasions better.
Even if many of the wider issues predate his arrival, football rarely allows patience at Ibrox. Managers are judged on derby results quickly and certain trends become impossible to ignore when they continue repeating themselves.
The Pedro Caixinha comparison Celtic can inflict on Rangers
The last Rangers manager to oversee three consecutive Scottish Premiership defeats was Pedro Caixinha in 2017. His side lost against Hamilton, Celtic and Motherwell before his spell unravelled completely.
That period remains one of the most unstable eras Rangers supporters have experienced since 2012. Bringing those comparisons back into focus after only a short period under Röhl would immediately increase scrutiny around the new regime.
Celtic do not need extra motivation heading into this fixture. The chance to inflict another damaging result on Rangers while reviving memories of Caixinha’s collapse and piling title pressure on Hearts only sharpens the significance surrounding the match.
Sunday therefore carries consequences beyond another derby result. Rangers are trying to avoid a statistic that has followed one manager for nearly a decade and stop Celtic’s title charge.
For Röhl, that is the reality of the job already. Before he has had the chance to properly shape his team, Sunday has become a match capable of defining the early narrative around his time at Ibrox and give Celtic fans another opportunity to poke fun at the Ibrox boss.
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